I'D    LIKE    TO   SEE    GAIETY    AND    HAFPIXESS,"    SAID    CANDACE. 


Deacon  Lysander 


By 
SARAH  PRATT  McLEAN  GREENE 

Author  of 
"Cape  Cod  Folks,"  "Vesty  of  the  Basins"  etc.,  etc. 


NEW  YORK:    THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  CO. 
33-37  EAST  SEVENTEENTH  ST.,  UNION  SQ.  NORTH 


PS 


i 


Copyright,  1904,  By  THE  BAKER  &  TAYLOR  Co, 


Published,  September, 


Contents 

I.     GOING  TO  SEEK  HAPPINESS  ...  7 
II.     RECEIVED  AT  THE  SELECT  BOARD 
ING  SCHOOL 23 

III.  TINKERING 47 

IV.  CARES  MULTIPLY 63 

V.     THE  ROMANTIC  Miss  CARMOODY    .  85 

VI.     AT  THE  RACES 95 

VII.     FLEEING    CHURCH  TO  ATTEND   A 

FIRE 122 

VIII.     FURTHER     REVELATIONS    TO    THE 

SEEKERS  OF  HAPPINESS      .     .     .  133 

IX.     HOSPITALITY  ESTABLISHED   .     .     „  157 
X.     A    WARM    BRIDGE    AND   A   COLD 

DRAWING-ROOM 180 

XI.     THE  CATASTROPHE 202 

XII.     HOME  218 


Illustrations 

"I'D  LIKE  TO  SEE  GAIETY  AND 

HAPPINESS,"  SAID  CANDACE       Frontispiece 

"MAY  I  FEEL  THAT  You 
ARE  MY  FRIEND — MY  TRUE 
FRIEND?" Facing  page  64 

WELL,  THE  WAY  THOSE  CREAM 

PUFFS  WENT "   184 

"KEEP  Yo'  EYES  ON  ME," 
ANGELIQUE  AGAIN  COM 
MANDED  Us "  "  198 


Deacon   Lysander 

i 

GOING   TO  SEEK   HAPPINESS 

THEY  call  me  Deacon  Lysander,  at  home — 
Deacon  Lysander  Morse. 

I  own  some  hundred  acres  in  a  hill  town 
in  New  Hampshire,  and  I've  a  matter  of  a 
few  thousand  dollars  in  the  bank:  but  these 
things,  though  I've  worked  hard  enough  for 
them,  and  though  they  stand  out  clear  of 
any  mortgage  or  other  encumbrance,  seem 
unreal  and  shaky  possessions  to  me  after  all, 
compared  with  three  keys — or  two  keys  and 
a  padlock — which  1  carry  about  with  me  in 
my  breast  pocket  wherever  I  go. 
7 


It  doesn't  make  any  difference  how  broad 
cast  I  fling  those  keys  about,  or  drop  them  on 
the  road,  or  give  them  away  to  all  and 
whomsoever,  I  always  find  them  just  the 
same  when  I  get  home  right  there  in  my 
breast  pocket. 

Well,  one  of  them  is  the  key  to  the 
world's  sorrow;  and  one  is  to  the  peace  that 
there  is  in  Work, — that  is  to  be  doing  what 
ye  can  to  ease  up  the  tugs  on  somebody's 
harness;  and  the  other  I'll  call  in  a  sort  of 
parable  way,  the  key  to  the  padlock  on  the 
big  barn  door,  where  ye  can  sit  on  a  three- 
legged  stool  or  a  broken  chair,  and  watch 
God's  sunset  in  the  solitude  and  peace  that 
be  in  country  places.  I  used  to  have  a  whole 
lot  of  shiny  patent  brass  lock-openers  jin 
gling  on  my  key-ring, — but  now  I've  only 
8 


GOING  TO  SEEK   HAPPINESS 

these  three  keys  left,  and  they're  just  plain  iron, 
but  they  are  eternally  stout,  and  I  wouldn't 
swap  them  for  access  to  all  the  strong  boxes 
and  safe  deposit  vaults  in  this  world's  Bed 
lam,  I  take  such  content  with  these  old  keys 
of  mine. 

But  Candace,  my  wife,  spoke  up  one  day 
and  said  she, 

"I  don't  see  why  God  took  them  all," 
— meaning  our  children. 

"  Maybe  we  were  grubbing  with  our  eyes 
glued  pretty  close  to  the  rocks  and  snags  in 
this  soil  that  we  call  our  own,"  said  I,— 
"and  he  did  it  so  that  we'd  move  our  farm 
up  onto  Mount  Pisgah  and  get  a  wider  range 
and,  on  clear  days,  see  as  far  as  home. 
Maybe  so,"  said  I. 

"You're  always  satisfied,"  said  Candace, 
9 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

rather  sharp — poor,  troubled  soul.  "  It's  the 
rule  o'  healthy  mankind  to  be  sometimes 
tetchy,  and  you  were  born  to  your  share; 
but,  late  years,  you're  always  the  same;  if 
the  pie  crust's  heavy,  you  smack  your  lips 
full  as  enjoyable;  if  the  weather's  bad,  it 
suits  ye  just  as  well;  if  anything  goes  wrong- 
on  the  farm,  you  don't  seem  to  consider  the 
loss  a  tuppenny's  worth.  I  always  had  some  * 
ambition.  I've  got  to  have  some  sort  of  am 
bition,  Lysander,  and  I  can't  live  without 
ambition." 

"Well,  Candace,"  said  I,  "I'll  join  ye  in 
whatever  ambition  ye  want  me  to." 

"  Maybe  I  don't  mean  ambition,"  said  she 

sadly,  "so  much  as  I  do  to  see  something 

that  will  take  my  mind  off.     We've  always 

toiled  and    moiled.     We've   never   taken    a 

10 


GOING  TO  SEEK   HAPPINESS 

good  long  trip  anywhere  in  our  lives;  and 
what  would  be  the  odds  ?  Who  are  we  lay 
ing  up  for?" 

"  It's  a  good  idea,"  said  I.     "Let's  go." 

"I'd  like  to  see  gaiety  and  happiness,"  said 
Candace;  "though  I  can't  ever  feel  them 
again  myself,  I'd  like  to  see  laughter  and  joy 
and  happiness." 

"Well,"  said  I,  thinking  hard;  "now 
where  will  we  be  likely  to  find  the  most  of 
those  things  ? — Boston  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Candace:  "  everybody  knows 
that  Boston  is  a  sad  and  thoughtful  city. 
Besides,  it's  too  near  home.  I  want  a  real 
trip  for  once." 

"New  York?" 

"New  York  is  too  wicked,"  said  Candace, 
"to  have  any  real  joy.  Paris,  of  course,  is 
ii 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

the  gayest  place  in  the  world — but  we 
shouldn't  think  of  going  there.  But  I've 
always  heard  that  Washington,  D.  C,  is  the 
most  like  Paris  of  any  city  in  America,  only 
more  innocent  and  Puritan  in  its  pleasures." 

"Then  that  is  just  the  place  we're  looking 
for,"  said  I,  "and  now  that  we've  made  up 
our  minds  to  it,  let's  put  right  in  and  go." 

Candace  seemed  to  hold  back  a  little  at  my 
resolution.  "Of  course,"  said  she,  "we  go 
to  look  at  gaiety,  Lysander.  We  don't  go  to 
mingle  in  it." 

"No,"  said  I;  "all  I  want  is  to  look." 

"And  of  course,  too,"  she  went  on, 
"Washington  is  a  fashionable  place — very; 
so  I've  always  heard.  The  clothes  we  wear 
Sunday  won't  be  too  good  to  wear  every  day 
there." 

12 


GOING   TO  SEEK   HAPPINESS 

"It  is  strange,"  I  mused,  "that  the  very 
first  essential  in  going  to  see  happiness,  is  to 
get  ourselves  up  in  some  suffering  shape." 
I  said  that  to  satisfy  Candace  a  little  and  put 
her  off  her  guard;  for  my  old  broadcloth  sets 
just  as  loose  and  easy  on  me  as  the  surround 
ing  atmosphere,  and  my  Sunday  boots  have 
got  worn  to  a  perfect  system  of  expansion 
wherever  it's  most  needed.  So  I  had  to 
smile  a  little  to  myself. 

"  You'll  have  to  have  your  hair  shingled  and 
wear  your  stovepipe  hat,"  said  Candace. 

"There's  a  difficulty  there,"  said  I.  "I 
can't  do  both,  Candace.  If  I  had  my  hair 
shingled  my  stovepipe  hat  would  fall  down 
over  my  ears.  Take  your  choice,  old  girl," 
said  I,  very  tenderly  and  cheerfully. 

Candace  looked  at  me.     "You  never  did 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

show  off  any,"  said  she  sort  of  complainingly. 
"  You're  the  strongest  man  1  ever  saw,  you 
can  lift  the  most  and  throw  the  farthest,  but 
you're  just  barely  medium  size.  Your  eyes 
are  as  handsome  blue  as  our  Ruthie's  were — 
she  had  your  eyes, — but  your  nose  stands  out 
like  a  cod-hook,  and  your  hair's  for  all  the 
world  like  the  brush  of  a  yellow  broom." 

She  kept  looking  at  me  thoughtfully.  Then 
she  sighed,— 

"They  say  a  good  many  of  the  senators 
and  foreign  diplomats  and  such  are  curious 
looking  and  wear  long  hair,"  said  she:  "  per 
haps  Washington  is  just  the  place  where  your 
looks  won't  be  much  noticed." 

This  did  not  hurt  me  any,  for  I've  always 
known  that  I  was  a  personable  man.  Can- 
dace  said  that  just  to  keep  me  meek  and 
H 


GOING   TO  SEEK   HAPPINESS 

under  proper  subjection,  and  I  commended 
her  for  it  in  my  heart. 

So  I  only  smiled  a  little  to  myself,  and  I  got 
my  grandfather's  carpet-bag  down  out  of  the 
attic.  (It  would  not  be  the  first  time  that  bag 
had  seen  Washington,  for  my  grandfather 
had  made  a  name  and  a  stir  in  the  old  senate 
there,  in  his  day.)  I  packed  my  bag,  alone, 
for  Candace  was  bound  up,  heart  and  soul,  in 
getting  all  her  finery  together.  I  put  in  my 
linen  and  my  brush  and  comb,  etc.,  and  then 
I  took  a  crash  towel  and  rolled  up  an  old 
every-day  suit  along  with  my  soft  felt  hat  and 
carpet  slippers, — and  a  few  tools  that  come 
handy  wherever  you  are, — and  tucked  them 
away  neatly,  down  at  the  bottom  of  the 
bag. 

When  we  got  to  our  select  boarding-place 
15 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

in  Washington  at  last — for  Candace  and  I 
shunned  hotels — it  was  very  late  at  night  and 
we  were  weary.  I  unpacked  my  bag, — and 
the  towel  and  its  contents  were  not  there. 

"I've  been  robbed,  already,  Candace," 
said  I. 

"  Do  you  think,"  said  Candace,  "  that  any 
body  would  take  the  trouble  to  steal  that  old 
turkey-buzzard's  nest  that  you  fussed-up  and 
put  down  in  the  bottom  of  your  bag?  No," 
said  she,  combing  out  her  hair  in  a  calm  way, 
"I  knew  what  you  were  up  to,  and  I  took 
those  things  out,  myself,  before  we  left 
home,  Lysander.  I  thought  it  was  best." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "it  will  seem  sort  of  queer 

to  be  wearing  my  meeting  clothes  and  my 

stovepipe  hat  everywheres  and  all  days  of  the 

week,  but  I  guess  you're  right,  perhaps  it's 

16 


GOING  TO  SEEK   HAPPINESS 

what  I  ought  to  do  in  such  surroundings  as 
this." 

For  the  chandeliers  hung  heavy  down  from 
the  ceilings  in  our  two  rooms,  and  the  bay 
window  looked  out  on  the  earthly  palaces  of 
the  great  and  rich,  and  the  mirrors  reflected 
us  back  at  every  turn  so  that  we  had  to  con 
template  ourselves  in  the  vain  show  of  the 
flesh,  whether  or  no. 

Now  with  regard  to  my  narration  of  the 
events  which  follow  I  want  to  say  that  I  am 
one  who  thinks  the  facts,  just  as  they  run 
along  in  this  world,  more  interesting  than 
anything  the  novelists  make  up;  and  if 
we've  any  duty  at  all  in  giving  an  account, 
it  is  to  modify  and  tone  it  down  and  to  use 
the  brush  of  palliation  to  the  harp  of  a  lov 
ing  and  compassionate  spirit. 
'7 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

This  select  boarding-place  to  which  Can- 
dace  and  I  had  come,  was,  as  we  had  under 
stood,  an  exclusive  and  fashionable  residen 
tial  school  for  young  ladies;  but  the  three 
Misses  Dove  at  its  head — "  survivors  of  the 
old  southern  aristocracy  whose  circum 
stances  had  become  exigent  " — not  having 
been  successful  in  getting  pupils  enough  to 
fill  their  house,  had  applied  to  a  "  Board  and 
Rooms"  agent  for  some  estimable  married 
couple  of  suitable  age  and  disposition  to 
occupy  their  choicest  and  most  expensive 
apartment. 

To  the  same  agent,  as  it  happened,  we 
had  applied  for  temporary  home  and  shelter. 

This  agent  was  a  woman  who  had  the 
knack  of  entering  heart  and  soul  into  other 

people's  wants  and  of  knowing  what  they 
18 


GOING   TO  SEEK   HAPPINESS 

wanted,    too,    better    than    they  did  them 
selves. 

"You  are  just  the  couple  for  the  Doves," 
said  she — "house  on  Grandpont  Circle — 
most  aristocratic  locality  in  Washington — 
two  connecting  rooms.  I  sent  a  congress 
man  and  his  wife  there  to  apply,  but — well 
—I  don't  know;  the  Doves  are  extremely 
particular — young  ladies'  school,  you  see. 
The  rooms  are  still  vacant.  Take  yellow 
car,  out  there — get  off  at  the  circle — con 
ductor  will  tell  you " 

Almost  before  she  had  finished  talking, 
Candace  and  I  found  ourselves  urged  out 
upon  our  way.  We  felt  pretty  desperate 
and  homeless,  out,  that  time  of  the  night,  in 
a  strange  city,  with  only  the  chance  of  a 
young  ladies'  boarding-school  taking  me  in. 
J9 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"  If  they  wouldn't  take  that  congressman, 
Candace,"  said  I,  "why  should  they  take 
me  ?" 

Candace  shut  her  lips  together.  "I 
guess  they'll  take  you  if  1  stand  up  for  you," 
said  she.  Candace  was  a  large  woman,  any 
way,  and  she  was  getting  more  and  more 
determined  every  minute  as  we  wandered 
out  there  in  the  streets,  homeless,  until  now 
as  I  looked  up  at  her  in  the  moonlight  she 
seemed  pretty  near  heroic  size.  "A  purer 
and  a  better  man  never  walked  God's  earth, 
than  you  are,  Lysander  Morse!"  said  she; 
"and  I  just  want  those  Doves  to  question  it 
to  my  face! " 

Still,  we  stopped  within  a  few  numbers  of 
the  house,  for  it  was  a  forbidding  and  im 
posing-looking  block; — and  I  took  off  my 
20 


GOING   TO  SEEK   HAPPINESS 

hat  and  took  my  pomatum  out  of  my  bag, 
just  as  Candace  bade  me,  and  she  smoothed 
and  patted  down  my  brush  of  hair  with  all 
the  ardor  she  had  left.  It  was  a  beautiful, 
broad,  quiet  street,  and  nothing  doing.  One 
policeman  strolled  along  and  looked  sharp  at 
us,  but  I  wasn't  making  any  outcry  and  he 
passed  on. 

Then  we  went  up  and  rang  the  bell,  and  I 
asked  if  any  of  the  folks  were  up  yet. 

"They-all's  up,"  said  the  black  girl,  as 
slow  as  if  she  had  no  end  of  time  in  the 
bank,  "  but  they-all's  out." 

"What  are  they  out  for  ?"  said  Candace,  in 
a  very  stern  mood. 

"  I  d'n'  know,  'm,"  drawled  the  girl,  "but 
I  heer  tell  it  was  a  lecture  on  '  Cho-pang.' " 

So  we  sat  and  waited,  and  I  knew  by  the 

21 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

way  Candace  looked  that  she  would  never 
say  anything  again  about  seeking  gaiety  and 
happiness  if  only  she  could  feel  the  familiar 
floor  beneath  her  feet  in  our  own  old  home 
in  New  Hampshire. 


II 

RECEIVED   AT  THE  SELECT   BOARDING  SCHOOL 

AFTER  a  while  we  heard  the  latch-key 
turn,  and  the  sisters  came  sailing  in,  in  shim 
mering  moonlight-on-the-water  gowns.  But 
I  thought  they  looked  at  us  rather  eagerly. 

"  You  came  from  Mrs.  B ,  the  agent?" 

said  one  of  them,  and  I  was  sure  she  smiled, 
too. 

"We  do,"  said  Candace, — who  doesn't 
take  impressions  easily  as  I  do,  and  who  was 
sitting  there  still  wrapped  up  in  her  sternest 
mood, — "  and  I  want  to  say  right  here,  as  his 
wife,  that  I'm  not  prepared  to  hear  any  ob 
jections  made  to  Deacon  Morse  !  " 
23 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"Why  of  course  not/'  drawled  the  smil 
ing  one;  "we're  real  glad  to  see  Deacon 
Morse,  and  hope  he'll  remain  with  us;"  and 
they  all  three  sat  down  beside  us  in  a  friendly 
sociable  way:  they  seemed,  to  tell  the  truth, 
particularly  pleased  with  me.  I  could  hardly 
believe  my  senses,  that  I'd  not  only  been  ad 
mitted  on  sight,  but  was  actually  being  sort 
of  encouraged  and  lovingly  gathered  in  to  a 
select  school  for  young  ladies!  I  out  with 
my  wallet,  though,  and  paid  the  Doves  for  a 
week  in  advance,  and  Candace  and  I  were 
shown  up  to  our  rooms. 

Naturally  I  felt  somewhat  set  up,  though  I 
tried  not  to  have  Candace  see  it.  I  wasn't  so 
sorry  to  discover  that  my  old  clothes  were 
gone  as  I  might  have  been  under  other  cir 
cumstances,  and  I  was  busy  unpacking  when 
24 


THE   BOARDING   SCHOOL 

I  noticed  that  Candace's  lips  were  shut  pretty 
tight  again. 

Presently  they  opened;  "They're  hard 
up,"  said  she.  "That's  the  reason  why 
you're  jumping  around  here  so  frisky, 
Lysander  Morse,  in  a  young  ladies'  boarding- 
school  !  Those  Doves  are  hard  up." 

"Oh,  1  guess  not,"  said  I  soothingly;  "did 
ye  notice  their  silk  gowns  ?  " 

"  Did  you  notice  " — said  Candace — "  they 
were  all  frayed  and  giving  out  in  the 
seams  ?  " 

"  Maybe  it's  the  fashion,  here  in  Wash 
ington,  not  to  have  their  dress  sleeves  sewed 
in  very  tight,"  said  I, — "  and  a  good  fashion, 
too.  Every  mortal  being  ought  to  have 
some  leeway." 

"Pish!  "said  Candace; — "they 're  hard  up!" 
25 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

I  was  trying  to  start  my  top  bureau 
drawer,  so  as  to  put  away  my  collars  and 
handkerchiefs  and  other  gimcracks;  just 
about  an  inch  out,  the  drawer  stuck,  and  it 
wouldn't  budge  either  way.  Finally — being 
in  a  sort  of  unthinking  and  elevated  frame  of 
mind,  anyway — I  put  forth  a  jerk  that  caused 
that  drawer  to  fling  out  so  sudden  that  I  lost 
my  balance  and  went  over  with  it  onto  the 
floor. 

"Are  you  crazy,  Lysander,"  said  my  wife, 
from  her  room,  "  to  be  making  such  an 
earthquake  and  turn-over  in  an  aristocratic 
house  at  this  time  of  the  night!  " 

She  was  just  getting  into  bed  as  she  spoke, 
and  being  a  heavy  woman,  and  tired  out 
besides,  once  over  the  side  board  of  her 

couch,  she  let  herself  go,  with  a  happy  sigh, 
26 


THE   BOARDING  SCHOOL 

altogether, — and, — well — there  was  an  earth 
quake  and  a  turn-over  sure  enough. 

The  bed  had  an  underpinning  of  slats; 
over  that  was  a  wire  mattress, — but  the 
wires  were  all  worn  loose,  you  see,  and 
came  down  onto  the  slats,  with  Candace 
and  a  corn-husk  mattress  forming  the  ava 
lanche.  Two  slats  broke,  and  the  rest  fell 
out,  and  there  was  my  poor  wife  staring  up 
at  me  helpless  from  the  sheerest  wreck  I'd 
ever  seen  her  in,  in  my  life.  It  was  worse 
than  when  the  colt  ran  away. 

"Help  me  out,  Lysander,"  gasped  she, 
scared  enough. 

I  wasn't  long  getting  her  onto  her  feet. 

"  Are  you  hurt  ?  "  said  I. 

"I    don't    know,"    said    she,    trembling. 

"  Let  me  see  if  I  can  walk."    She  leaned  on 

27 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

me  and  I  guided  her  across  into  my 
room,  where  there  was  a  little  half-size 
bed. 

"  You'll  have  to  lie  on  this  to-night,"  said 
I.  "  I  don't  believe  I  can  tinker  the  other  up 
till  daylight,  and  I  can  get  hold  of  some 
tools."  This  was  all  I  said  about  Candace 
having  taken  out  my  monkey-wrench  and 
screw-driver,  that  I'd  packed  along  with  my 
old  clothes;  for  she  felt  bad  enough  as  it 
was.  I  got  her  into  bed  and  put  chairs  all 
along  the  side  so  as  to  make  it  seem  larger 
and  safer  to  her,  and  then  I  went  back  to  the 
wreck  to  see  if  I  could  even  it  up  someway 
so  that  I  could  spend  the  night  on  it.  I  tried 
to  light  the  chandelier, — which  was  right 
over  the  bed, — so  as  to  illuminate  the  subject 

more,  but  it  wasn't  ignitible.     The  only  gas- 
28 


THE   BOARDING   SCHOOL 

jet  in  the  room  that  would  light  was  the  one 
away  off  by  the  mirror. 

My  head  was  dropping  with  sleep,  so  I 
just  crawled  into  the  debris,  took  hold  of  the 
side  board,  and  in  two  seconds  I  was  dream 
ing  that  I'd  been  saved  from  shipwreck  and 
was  hanging  onto  the  gun'le  of  a  dory, 
happy  and  secure,  speeding  over  the  dark 
waves,  and  bounding  off,  unhurt,  from 
every  rock  we  struck  on.  Instead  of  a 
night  of  misery  and  discomfort,  I  had  about 
the  gayest  and  wildest  sail  I'd  ever  enjoyed 
in  my  life,  and  woke  up  strong  and  re 
freshed. 

Candace  was   rather  reserved,  but  I  was 

glad  to  see  she'd  got  all  her  dignity  back. 

She  put  on  a  black  silk  gown,  and  I  had  on 

my   broadcloth,    of   course,    and   when   the 

29 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

second  bell  rang,  according  to  instructions, 
we  came  out  to  go  down  to  breakfast. 

We  met  the  good-natured  Miss  Dove — the 
one  I  liked  best — with  the  three  pupils  in  the 
hall. 

"There's  an  elevator,"  she  drawled  in  her 
pleasant  way.  "I  dare  say  you  would  be 
glad  to  use  it,  Mrs.  Morse.  The  man  who 
lived  in  the  house  before  we  came  had  it  put 
in  for  his  own  convenience  and  used  to  pull 
himself  up  and  down  in  it.  It's  a  little  out 
of  repair,  we  think — I  don't  know  just  what 
is  the  matter  — 

"Thank  you,"  said  Candace,  rather  stiff 
and  cold,  I  thought, — "I  prefer  to  walk." 

"Let's  see,"  said  I,  sliding  open  the  door 
of  the  little  machine.  I  didn't  want  to  hurt 
Miss  Dove's  feelings  by  paying  no  attention 


THE   BOARDING   SCHOOL 

to  her  offer;  and,  moreover,  I  suppose  I 
never  have  been  and  never  shall  be  able  to 
help  investigating  anything  that  needs  tink 
ering — having  a  sort  of  gift  that  way,  be 
sides; — so  I  stepped  into  the  cage  and  was 
just  going  to  start  it  down  when,  in  a  flash, 
one  of  those  three  girl-pupils  was  at  my  side. 

"  I'll  go  down  too,"  she  said. 

The  cage  would  hold  only  two,  and  after 
she  got  in  my  only  desire  was  to  send  it 
speeding  down  with  all  possible  despatch. 
She  was  a  beautiful  girl,  too;  taller  than  I, 
with  an  insolent  little  girl-woman  face  bend 
ing  over  and  smiling  at  me,  and  she  had  the 
makings  of  a  devil  in  her  black  eyes.  The 
dimensions  of  the  cage  kept  her  closer  to  me 
than  would  have  been  at  all  proper  if  I'd 
been  a  younger  or  less  reliable  man;  but,  as 
31 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

I  say,  all  my  hope  and  ambition  was  to  get 
that  elevator  down  so  as  to  anticipate  the  ar 
rival  of  Candace  and  Miss  Dove  on  the  floor 
below. 

So,  a  dizzy  sensation  went  to  my  head  and 
a  cold  chill  to  my  heart,  when,  just  as  soon 
as  we'd  got  out  of  sight  of  the  landing  we'd 
started  from,  the  whole  thing  wavered  a  sec 
ond  like  the  pendulum  of  a  clock,  and  then 
stopped  short  there  between  the  walls  in 
mid  space. 

The  girl  did  not  scream.  I  could  just  see 
her  great  eyes  shining  at  me  in  the  dim  light, 
and  she  put  up  her  hand  to  her  mouth  and 
giggled.  It  was  a  smooth  little  brown  hand 
with  a  pink  diamond  on  the  middle  finger 
and  a  blue  one  on  the  finger  next  to  that, 
and  there  was  a  yellow  rosette  in  her  hair, 
32 


THE   BOARDING  SCHOOL 

and  a  scamp-weed  and  trumpet-vine  pattern 
running  over  her  gown. 

"Isn't  this  great!"  she  gasped,  almost 
stifled  with  the  mirth  of  it.  "Oh,  my!" 
said  she,  "if  you  can't  make  it  go,  we'll  be 
late  for  breakfast.  I  smell  the  coffee!  I  love 
coffee,  but  I'm  not  allowed  to  drink  it.  Are 
you?" 

"Yes,  little  girl,"  said  I,  very  gravely, 
wrenching  at  the  ropes,  "I'm  allowed 
coffee." 

I  liked  her.  She  didn't  know  what  fear 
was.  I  suppose  some  might  think  that  For 
tune  was  shedding  a  pretty  broad  smile  on 
me.  Here  was  I,  not  only  welcomed  into  a 
fashionable  school  for  young  ladies,  but 
swinging  between  heaven  and  earth  cooped 
up  in  a  box  all  alone  with  this  little  heathen- 
33 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

looking    Cleopatra,     the    prettiest    of    the 
lot! 

But  I  wanted  to  get  down,  and  I  put  my 
energies  into  a  jerk  that  sent  us  going  down 
at  last,  but  the  brake  wouldn't  work;  we 
kept  going  faster  and  faster.  It  wasn't  very 
far,  of  course,  to  the  cellar  floor,  and  by  the 
time  the  elevator  had  got  up  considerable 
momentum,  we'd  arrived!  Sort  of  abrupt, 
to  be  sure,  and  a  good  deal  of  a  thump,  but 
we  stepped  out  all  right,  and  Cleopatra  was 
still  giggling. 

She  ran  ahead  of  me  up  the  cellar  stairs. 
"  Oh,  it  was  great!  "  she  cried  as  we  entered 
the  dining-room.  "  I  was  not  a  bit  afraid — 
with  Deacon  Morse." 

"I  can  fix  that  elevator  all  right  in  ten 
minutes,  only  give  me  some  tools,"  said  I. 
34 


THE   BOARDING   SCHOOL 

Candace  was  all  of  a  tremble,  and  walked  to 
the  table  holding  on  to  my  arm.  "  I  thought 
you'd  met  your  death,  Lysander,"  she  said. 
Candace  knew  me  too  well  to  feel  any  jeal 
ousy  of  that  little  milk  and  water  school 
girl;  and  besides  I  think  it  helped  up  her 
pride  a  little — she  having  had  such  a  disaster 
with  her  bed — for  me  to  land,  with  a  thump 
that  resounded  all  over  the  house,  onto  the 
cellar  floor. 

As  we  sat  and  contemplated  that  break 
fast,  I  did  not  deny  any  more  in  my  heart 
what  Candace  had  said  to  me,  that  the  Doves 
were  hard  up. 

We've  always  been  good  healthy  livers, 

and   treated   even  our  hens  and  pigs  well, 

and  now  I  felt  pity  and  astonishment  both. 

I  could  show  my  astonishment  on  my  face, 

35 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

for  Candace  and  I  were  at  a  little  table  by 
ourselves,  and  I,  being  the  only  man  in  the 
school,  was  set  with  my  back  to  all  the 
other  occupants,  just  facing  Candace  and  a 
window  that  let  onto  the  court.  The  Doves 
were  at  a  table  by  themselves,  the  trails  of 
their  dresses  sweeping  off  over  the  floor, 
and  the  young  ladies  and  the  resident  teacher 
were  at  a  table  by  themselves. 

Candace  was  facing  the  whole  room,  and 
she  picked  the  burnt-black  out  of  her  por 
ridge,  and  tasted  her  "  cream  "  and  "coffee " 
and  never  showed  a  sign  of  what  she 
felt. 

I  looked  out  of  the  window.     The  ell  of 

the  house  circled  around,  so  that  I  could  see 

across  the  court  into  the  kitchen.     My  far 

sight  is  splendid,  and  I  could  see  the  cook  in 

36 


THE   BOARDING  SCHOOL 

there  and  the  stove  and  the  kitchen  shelf 
down  to  the  minutest  particulars.  The  cook 
was  a  big  black  woman  with  only  one  eye, 
and  she  sat  with  her  feet  on  the  stove  and 
that  one  eye  staring  into  vacancy  in  a  way 
that  seemed  to  me  mighty  disconsolate. 

"It's  a  terrible  affliction,  Candace,"  said  I 
speaking  my  thought  out,  low,  across  the 
table, — "  a  terrible  affliction,  not  to  have  but 
one  eye." 

Candace  looked  at  me  sharp.  "You  did 
get  hurt,"  said  she;  "your  head's  light." 

"No — no — I  ain't  hurt,"  said  I, — "wait 
till  I  can  explain." 

Just  as  1  was  speaking,  the  cook  got  up 
and  waddled  over  to  the  kitchen  shelf  and 
took  down  a  pipe  and  a  bag  of  fine  cut  to 
bacco;  she  filled  up  her  pipe,  businesslike, 
37 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

with  her  lips  moving  as  though  she  was 
mumbling  to  herself,  then  she  stooped  down 
to  the  oven  and  took  out  a  pan  of  corn  bread 
and  laid  it  on  top  of  the  stove  and  began  to 
carve  out  each  individual  piece  in  a  weaving 
thoughtful  way,  smoking  all  the  while  like 
the  chimney  to  a  soft-coal  furnace. 

"By  Gun!  Candace,"  said  I,  whispering 
again,  before  I  thought,  across  the  table,  "I 
wonder  if  she  chews." 

Candace  looked  hard  at  me  ;  but  just  then 
our  attention  was  drawn  by  one  of  the  Miss 
Doves  speaking  very  firmly  over  to  one  of  the 
pupils. 

"  Why  do  you  not  eat  your  breakfast,  Miss 
Carmoody  ?" 

"  Because  I  don't  like  it,"  whined  a  sweet 
voice  straightway  in  reply,  and  I  knew 
38 


THE   BOARDING   SCHOOL 

although  I  could  not  see,  that  it  was  the  voice 
of  Cleopatra. 

"If  you  cannot  eat,  you  are  probably  unfit 
for  the  class-room.  You  may  go  to  your  own 
room,  and  remain  there  this  morning,  and 
Miss  Lacey  will  see  that  your  door  is  locked 
on  the  outside." 

Candace  and  I  fidgeted  some,  for  we  hadn't 
eaten  any  breakfast  either,  and  when  the 
stern  Miss  Dove,  who  seemed  to  be  the  head 
of  the  establishment,  said  "Mrs.  Morse"  in 
a  tone  of  command,  we  waited,  not  know 
ing  whether  we  were  to  be  locked  in  or 
not. 

"  Mrs.  Morse,"  said  she  ;  "  one  of  my  sis 
ters  finds  some  time  at  her  disposal  to-day 
and  will  be  happy  to  have  you  and  Deacon 
Morse  accompany  her  in  a  visit  to  some  of 
39 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

the  most  interesting  places  in  Washington. 
Utter  strangers  tc  the  place  hardly  know 
what  is  of  the  most  educative  or  artistic  im 
portance." 

"We're  very  much  obliged,"  said  Candace 
in  a  strange  far-away  voice,  and  as  for  me,  I 
was  looking  blank  over  across  at  that  cook 
who  was  smoking  hard  and  taking  off  one 
shoe  to  ease  her  foot. 

Candace  and  I  walked  up-stairs,  and  Can- 
dace  locked  both  doors  into  the  hall,  and  then 
she  stood  and  spoke. 

"Let's  go  home,  Lysander,"  said  she. 

"  Let's  tinker  things  up  a  little,  first,"  said  I. 

"That  isn't  your  business,"  said  she. 
"  You're  a  paying  boarder.  Let  them  hire  a 
carpenter." 

"Candace,"  said  I,  "I  don't  believe  those 
40 


THE   BOARDING  SCHOOL 

poor  Doves  have  got  any  money  to  hire  a 
carpenter  with." 

"They  haven't  got  any  money  to  dress 
with,"  said  she, — "but  they  dress  like  em 
pires  and  empresses." 

"  You  said  yourself  it  was  old  finery,"  said 
I.  "Their  faces  look  sad,  they  look  desper 
ate,  to  me.  You  see  they  haven't  got  but 
three  pupils  in  this  great  rent  of  a  house." 

"  They  ought  to  have  less,"  said  Candace, 
"  if  they  lock  them  up  for  not  eating  victuals 
that  decent  pigs  would  spurn." — I  did  not  tell 
Candace  anything  about  the  tableaux  I  had 
seen  the  cook  in  ; — and  she  went  on, 

"I  came  here  to  have  my  mind  distracted 
with  things  that  were  sort  of  flush  and  gay, 
and  not  to  be  lectured  and  starved  out  at  a 
misses'  boarding-school,"  said  she. 
41 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

"Well,  Candace,"  said  I,  "you're  the  big 
gest  woman  I  ever  knew  in  mind  and  heart 
both.  I  reckon  we've  got  to  give  pity  and 
comfort  instead  of  finding  it  for  ourselves. 
Looks  that  way,  to  me " 

There  was  a  knock  at  the  door  and  Can- 
dace  opened  it.  It  was  the  girl  who  answered 
the  door  and  waited  at  table,  and  she'd  come 
in  to  make  the  beds. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  that?"  said  Can- 
dace,  not  unkindly,  pointing  her  to  the 
wreck  of  slats  and  wires  and  mattresses  on 
the  floor. 

"Idon'  know,  'm,  I'm  sure,  'm,"  said  the 
girl  without  any  surprise  or  regret  or  ex 
pression  whatever  on  her  face,  except  that, 
if  her  eyes  hadn't  been  so  cold,  they'd  have 
been  called  melancholy. 
42 


THE   BOARDING   SCHOOL 

"There  ought  to  be  a  carpenter  here  right 
away  to  mend  that  bed,"  said  Candace. 

"Yas,  'm,  there  ought  to  be,  'm — that's 
true  enough,"  said  the  girl. 

"  But  you  don't  think  there  will  be  ?" 

"  I  d'n'  know,  'm,  I'm  sure,  "m." 

Candace  had  known  that  she  was  coming 
among  darkies  and  that  they  like  bright 
colors,  and  she  was  prepared.  She  went  to 
her  bureau  drawer  and  took  out  some 
things, — one  was  a  rosette  made  of  different 
colors  of  silk  ribbon,  and  she  handed  it  to 
that  girl,  who  took  it  and  looked  as  if  she 
was  really  waking  from  the  dead. 

"My!  'm,"  said  he,  "if  that  ain't  just  what 
I  needed!  When  you-alls  want  anything, 
jes'  call  my  name.  My  name's  Blueinetta." 

"  Here's  a  little  purse  with  a  chain,  too, 
43 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

Blueing,"  said  Candace, — who  hadn't  caught 
the  whole  of  her  name. 

The  girl  took  it,  and  came  to  life  every  inch 
of  her. 

"I  expect  the  table's  usually  better  than  it 
was  this  morning  ?"  said  Candace  cheerfully. 

"I  d'n'  know,  'm,  I'm  sure,  'm.  You-alls 
sees  what  I  am,  jes'  skin  an'  bone — that's  what 
I  am." 

"  It  must  take  a  good  deal  to  run  this  big 
house  in  the  city,"  said  Candace,  discreetly 
turning  off  the  subject. 

"I  guess  it  'ud  take  it  all  right,"  said  the 
girl,  whose  tongue  was  loose  enough  now, 
"if  it  could  git  it!  Men  a-comin'  here  all 
hours  showin'  up  their  bills.  'Course  1 
know  'cause  I  tends  the  door.  Wish  you- 
alls  could  hear  that  gas  man  talk.  Wai',  I 
44 


THE   BOARDING   SCHOOL 

calls  it  cussin' — that's  what  I  calls  it, — 
cussin'." 

Candace  and  I  didn't  want  to  pump  that 
girl.  We  looked  sober  and  got  out  our 
guide-book,  and  sat  down  in  the  window 
together  studying  it.  When  she'd  gone 
out  of  the  room,  we  looked  at  each  other. 
"  What's  to  be  done  ?  "  said  Candace. 

"  I'm  going  to  fix  your  bed  so  that  you  can 
sleep  in  it  to-night,  first  thing,"  said  I.  "  I'll 
look  at  those  places  of  interest  some  other 
time.  You  go  along  with  Miss  Dove — 'tisn't 
the  lecturing  one — and  if  you  can  bring  it 
'round  without  hurting  her  feelings  you  take 
her  into  a  restaurant,  and  have  a  good  square 
meal,  both  of  ye.  I'm  going  out  to  find  a 
bite  somewheres  and  get  some  tools." 

My  having  to  go  out  to  get  tools  was  a 
45 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

rather  sore  topic  to  Candace,  and  she  flushed 
up  and  changed  the  subject. 

"I  ain't  afraid  of  its  hurting  her  feelings 
any  to  treat  her  to  a  good  square  meal,"  said 
she;  "but  I  call  it  ridiculous,  paying  hotel 
prices,  as  we  do,  to  have  to  go  out  on  the 
streets  with  hunger  gnawing  at  out  vitals." 


Ill 

TINKERING 

I  FOUND  a  place,  four  blocks  down,  where 
I  got  a  whole  mince  pie  and  a  cup  of  coffee 
for  twenty-five  cents,  and  I  went  into  a  hard 
ware  shop  and  bought  some  tools  and 
materials  (for  women  never  have  the  right 
sort  of  tools  around  the  house)  and  came 
back  up  to  Grandpont  Circle  to  begin  my 
work. 

I  met  the  good-natured  Miss  Dove  in  the  hall 
all  dressed  to  go  out,  wearing  a  long  sealskin 
coat  and  an  ostrich  plume  hat. 

"Mrs.  Morse  hasn't  come  down  yet,"  said 
she. 

47 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"Why,  that's  strange,"  said  I,  "for  I  left 
her  with  her  bonnet  and  cape  on,  all  ready 
to  go." 

So  I  ran  up  the  stairs  and  into  our  rooms— 
but  no  Candace.  My  flesh  began  to  creep. 
I  rushed  to  the  windows  and  looked  out, 
and  ransacked  the  big  wardrobe  closets, 
and  then,  as  I  stepped  out  into  the  hall  again 
I  heard  a  voice  calling  my  name  in  distress, 
"Lysander!  Lysander!" 

I  ran  to  the  door  of  the  little  umbrella- 
room  from  which  the  voice  seemed  to  issue. 

"Why  don't  you  come  out,  Candace?" 
said  I. 

"  '  Why  don't  I  come  out ' !  "  said  she,  as  if 
she  was  crying.  "I  can't  get  out!  The 
locks  sprung  on  me  and  won't  turn." 

There  was  not  any  keyhole  at  all  on  the 
48 


TINKERING 

outside,  so  I  knew  it  was  some  little  catch- 
spring  arrangement. 

"  Have  you  turned  it  every  way  you 
can  ?  "  said  I. 

"Do  you  think  I  want  to  spend  the  rest  of 
my  days  in  here?"  said  Candace.  "Don't 
you  think  I've  got  the  sense  to  try  every  way 
a  mortal  could  to  get  out?  I  tell  you  the 
spring  is  out  of  order  and  it  won't  turn." 

"  Well,"  said  I,  "  thank  goodness  I've  got 
some  tools  at  last." 

"Don't  taunt  me  with  those  tools  again," 
said  she;  " 'tisn't  human!  " 

"  You  just  tap  with  your  finger  right 
where  the  catch  is,  Candace,"  said  I,  "so 
that  I  can  locate  it." 

She  tapped,  and  I  took  my  auger  and 
bored  in  and  slipped  the  bolt.  I  didn't  smile 
49 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

when  Candace  came  out.  I  kept  as  long  a 
face  as  I  ever  wore  in  my  life.  "It's  a 
pesky  shame,"  said  I. 

"What  is  the  next  death-trap  waiting  for 
my  feet  around  here,  I  wonder,"  said  Can- 
dace,  measuring  every  step  she  took  with 
flashing  eyes  and  her  cheeks  as  mad  as  red 
apples.  "I  might 'a' been  rescued  long  ago 
if  they  weren't  all  as  stupid  as  snakes  in  this 
house.  I  heard  Blueing  pass  the  door  three 
times! " 

"You  get  right  out  of  it,  darlin',"  said  I. 
"Miss  Dove's  waiting  for  ye,  down  below, 
and  by  the  time  you  get  back  I'll  have  every 
thing  shipshape  and  in  running  order." 

I  mended  the  lock  and  fixed  up  Candace's 
bed  and  did  some  other  tinkering  around  up 
stairs;  then  I  took  a  pane  of  glass  I'd  brought 
50 


TINKERING 

from  the  hardware  shop  and  went  down  to 
the  dining-room,  for  I'd  noticed  the  window 
right  back  of  where  Candace  sat  at  table  was 
broken,  and  I  knew  she  would  never  stand 
that  draught  on  her  neck  without  catching 
cold. 

I  found  I'd  got  to  go  out  into  the  court  to 
fix  the  window,  so  I  meandered  around 
through  the  ell — there  seemed  no  end  of 
rooms.  I  knocked,  the  first  door  I  came 
to,  and  after  waiting  a  good  while  and  not 
getting  any  answer  I  peeked  in  and  saw  it 
was  vacant.  It  was  a  beautiful  great  room 
with  French  windows  looking  off  onto  a 
side  street.  I  judged  it  was  one  of  the  Miss 
Doves'  room,  for  there  was  a  wardrobe  door 
open  showing  a  lot  of  ball  dresses,  but  the 
room  itself  was  so  bare  with  only  one  mean 
51 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

little  strip  of  carpet  on  the  floor,  it  was 
enough  to  make  a  man's  heart  ache.  I 
marched  through  as  fast  as  I  could  go  and 
came  to  another  door — where  I  heard  Miss 
Lacey  talking  away  in  a  loud  voice  about 
what  she  saw  during  her  residence  in  Ger 
many,  so  I  knew  that  was  the  schoolroom. 

I  knocked,  and  Miss  Lacey  came  to  the 
door,  talking  all  the  time  about  the  educa 
tional  advantages  of  a  curriculum  in  Stutt 
gart,  but  when  she  saw  me  she  stopped. 

I  took  off  my  hat.  "  I'm  real  sorry  to  in 
terrupt  the  session,"  I  said,  "but  I'm  trying 
to  find  my  way  through  to  get  out  into  the 
court  to  fix  a  window." 

"Don't  mention  it,"  said  she.  "Things 
are  always  getting  out  of  repair.  Wherever 
we  go  we  find  that  accident  and  the  ravages 


TINKERING 

of  time  make  the  work  of  renewal  necessary. 
I  have  observed  in  Washington — a  fact  ap 
plicable  to  the  whole  south — a  tendency  to 
overlook  small  details  of  breakage  and  dis 
order;  this  is  accounted  for  by  the  sluggish 
ness  incident  to  warm  climates  or  their 
proximity.  The  German  householders  are 
provident  and  thrifty,  as  are  also  the  French; 
but  particularly  in  New  England  there  is  said 
to  exist — and  the  statement  is  no  doubt  true 
— an  inventive  faculty  which  has  produced 
many  marvellous " 

She  had  kept  right  along  by  my  side  and 
kept  talking,  though  we'd  passed  through 
the  schoolroom  and  stood  out  in  a  dark  entry 
alone  together:— 

" Marvellous  mechanical  results. 

Though  not  of  the  highest  order  of  genius, 
53 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

which  we  must  attribute  to  the  creative  arts 
as  displayed  in  painting,  sculpture  and 
literature " 


"  Yes'm,"  said  I,  very  genially,  for  I  didn't 
want  to  hurt  her  feelings.  "  Yet  these  little 
knacks  of  tinkering  come  in  very  handy,  and 
when  your  school  isn't  in  session  I  wish 
you'd  let  me  come  in  and  hang  up  your 
blackboard  for  ye,  for  it  looked  sort  of  un 
handy  lying  there  on  the  floor." 

"  Thank  you!  Deacon  Morse.  Thank  you! 
The  young  ladies  in  my  charge  show  la 
mentably  little  facility  in  mathematical  calcu 
lation.  The  parental  desire  has  evidently 
been  for  other  attainments,  such  in  fact  as 
lie  on  the  social  side  of  modern  existence. 
Miss  Carmoody  especially  is  an  heiress.  My 
little  flock  of  three  is  depleted  this  morning 
54 


TINKERING 

oy  her  absence,  enforced  as  a  disciplinary 
measure " 

We  heard  the  two  girls  in  the  class-room 
tittering. 

"Yes'm,"  said  I,  very  genially,  bowing, 
and  stepping  away.  For  though  all  she  said 
was  good  and  true,  I  knew  that  her  tongue 
was  her  master  and  if  anybody  broke  up  that 
meeting  it  would  have  to  be  me.  So  I 
decided  to  be  as  abrupt  as  was  polite  and  not 
hurt  her  feelings,  for  though  she  was  a  good 
lady,  every  inch  of  her,  it  wasn't  just  the 
thing  for  us  two  total  strangers  to  stand 
chirping  away  alone  together  in  that  dark 
entry  with  my  wife  gone  out  for  the  day. 

So  I  opened  the  next  door,  thinking  it  was 
only  the  woodshed  or  an  alleyway,  but  it 
was  the  kitchen. 

55 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"Oh  my  Lawd-ry!"  said  that  one-eyed 
cook,  whom  I'd  only  seen  hitherto  from 
a  distance.  She  hove  up  from  the  sink 
where  she  appeared  to  be  wetting  down  her 
hair  with  some  paste,  but  she'd  only  got 
one  side  done  and  the  other  stood  out 
heterogeneous. 

"My  Savyor!"  said  she,  laying  her  hand 
on  her  heart — "ef  yo'  ain't  ol'  Gunnel 
Vick'ry  come  to  life!  Yo'  putty  nigh  guv' 
me  a  spasm,  Gunnel  Vick'ry, — fo'  yo'  is  dat 
shuah  as  I  stan'  heah,  an'  de  grave's  guv'  up 
her  daid!" 

I  don't  believe  that  old  black  woman  ever 
looked  at  many  people  as  she  did  at  me, 
thinking  I  was  "  Colonel  Vickery."  She  had 
a  sour  face  and  ugly  too  for  folks  in  gen 
eral,  but  the  beam  and  the  look  she  cast  on 
56 


TINKERING 

me  was  the  genuine  April  of  an  honest  love; 
her  teeth  shone,  her  one  eye  had  a  tear  of 
joy,  and  every  hard  feature  melted. 

"My  Savyor!  it's  Gunnel  Vick'ry!  Ain't  I 
bresh  dat  ol'  beavah  hat  yo'  got  on  mo'  'n  fo' 
hunderd  times,  sah  ?  Hi!  he!  an'  dat  ol'  tail 
coat, — my  Lawd-ry! — an'  dem  blue  eyes  an' 
dat  cohn  tassel  ha'r!  Hi!  he!  I's  got  to  git 
my  ahms  roun'  yo',  sho  as  the  grave's  guv' 
up  her  daid! " 

I  saw  her  coming, — and  no  man's  ever 
called  me  a  mean-hearted  man  nor  a  coward 
neither.  I  stood  my  ground  and  took  the 
shock,  for  she  weighed  a  couple  of  hundred: 
and  after  that  I  stood  there  with  her  arms 
pinioning  me  'round  the  neck  and  her  head 
laid  up  against  my  bosom,  while  she  mur 
mured, 

57 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

"  It's  yo'  old  Angyleek,  Gunnel  Vick'ry, — 
dat  was  los'  and  is  foun',  and  behol'  she's 
come  to  life  ag'in!  " 

Just  then  Blueing  happened  to  come  into 
the  kitchen. 

"  She  thinks  I  am  some  old  friend  of  hers, 
Blueing,"  I  explained. 

"  She  do  so!  "  said  Blueing,  glancing  at  us 
in  her  calm  indifferent  way.  "She  do  that, 
fo'  shuah! " 

When  Angelique  had  recovered  a  little 
from  the  first  joy  of  meeting  me  she  wad 
dled  over  to  a  cupboard  that  was  set  in  the 
wall  over  the  kitchen  shelf,  and  took  out  a 
glass  and  a  bottle. 

"D'ye  think  I  fo'got  how  to  mix  it 
fo'  ye,  Gunnel?"  said  she,  her  face  shin 
ing  like  the  sun  on  a  new  polished 
58 


TINKERING 

stove.  "No,  ol'  Angyleek  ain'  fo'got.  Hi! 
he!" 

"Now  look  here,  Angelique,"  said  I  sooth 
ingly,  "you  wait  till  I  have  a  cold  or  some 
thing;  then  you  can  mix  me  up  a  dose.  But 
that's  something  I  never  take  in  cold  blood." 

"  Yo's  met  wid  a  mighty  change,  den, 
Gunnel,  sence  yo'  lep'  de  straits  o'  death," 
said  she,  and  she  sat  down  and  took  the 
liquor  herself  with  tears  of  joy  streaming 
down  her  cheek. 

"Blueing,"  said  I  to  the  younger  woman, 
aside,  and  I  spoke  gravely;  "don't  the  Miss 
Doves  ever  work  around  some  in  their  own 
kitchen,  or  pass  through,  anyways,  so  as  to 
keep  an  eye  on  things?" 

"No,  sun,"  said  the  girl,  "they  don'  keep 
no  eye  on  things — an'  this  cook,  she  make 
59 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

mighty  short  work  of  'em  ef  they  pass 
through  her  kitchen." 

"What?"  said  I; — for  she  had  a  lifeless 
monotonous  sort  of  voice  to  be  making  such 
awful  utterances  as  those. 

"I  say" — continued  she — "ef  folks — don' 
pay  yo' — yo'  wages — then  yo'  don'  expec' — 
to  take  no  sass  f'om  'em — do  yo'  ?" 

I  sighed.  It  was  about  all  the  answer  1 
could  make. 

"An"  if  yo'  don'  have  nothin'  to  cook — 
then  how  you  goin'  to  cook  ?  " 

I  couldn't  answer. 

"  But  I  tell  yo'  what  them  Doves  does  keep 
their  eye  on,"  said  Blueing;  "an'  that  is  to 
take  the  money  that  r'a'ly  belongs  to  other 
folks,  to  put  mo'  an'  mo'  fancy  goods  onto 
their  own  backs,  an'  another  thing  they 
60 


TINKERING 

keeps  their  eye  on  is  big  folks'  receptions, — 
though  maybe  they  ain't  asked, — and  toney 
theaters  an'  all  sech  as  that.  They  ain't  no 
ladies.  I've  lived  with  r'al  ladies — I  have — an' 
they  ain't  strainin'  theirselves  an'  runnin'  after 
big  folks — they's  big  folks  theirselves.  They 
jes'  keeps  ca'm  an'  w'ars  what  they  likes — 
they  ain't  askiir  nobody  any  questions.  This 
cook  an'  me — we  needs  our  wages." 

She  was  looking  me  square  in  the  face 
with  her  sad  eyes. 

I  sighed  again,  and  I  wondered  if  Candace 
was  finding  happiness  and  gaiety  as  thick  as 
I  was  all  around  me. 

I  went  down  into  the  cellar  and  found  a 
dry  goods  box  to  stand  on,  for  there  wasn't 
any  step-ladder,  and  so  I  went  out  to  mend 

that  window. 

61 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

It  seemed  strange  to  be  tinkering  away! 
there  with  my  Sunday  clothes  and  tall  silk 
hat  on,  but  I  hardly  thought  of  that,  so  many 
other  things  were  filling  my  mind; — when  I 
heard  a  voice  calling  to  me,  gentle  and 
sweet,  from  'way  up  above,  and  I  looked  up, 
and  it  was  Cleopatra  leaning  from  the  win 
dow  and  smiling  at  me. 


62 


IV 

CARES  MULTIPLY 

"DEACON  MORSE!"  said  she.  "Deacon 
Morse! " 

"Well?  "said  I. 

"May  I  feel  that  you  are  my  friend?  my 
true  friend?" 

"  Of  course  ye  may,"  said  I. 

Her  brown  face  was  prettier  for  having 
the  sun  shining  on  it,  and  her  eyes  were 
bright  enough  almost  to  outface  the  sun,  her 
teeth  were  as  clean  as  a  young  colt's,  but 
there  was  a  meek  and  holy  expression  play 
ing  all  'round  her  mouth  that  somehow  made 
me  feel,  more  than  ever,  that  that  girl  would 

need  looking  after. 

63 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"Thank  you!  dear  Deacon  Morse,"  said 
she. 

I  went  on  fixing  the  window.  I  heard  her 
clearing  her  musical  throat  a  good  many 
times,  and  I  was  conscious  that  one  little 
brown  hand  was  up  to  her  cheek,  showing 
off  those  blue  and  pink  jewels;  but  I  did  not 
look  up. 

After  a  while  I  heard  her  again,  very 
softly,  "Dear  Deacon  Morse." 

"Well?  "said  I. 

"I  am  so  hungry.  Would  you  let  Count 
Bonati  tie  a  box  of  candy — to  the  string — 
which  I  will  let  down — and  not  say  anything 
— not  to  a  soul — dear  Deacon  Morse — or  it 
would  make  such  trouble  for  me.  Oh,  I 
am  famishing! " 

At  that,  the  tallest  man  I  ever  saw  came  to 
64 


"  MAY  I   FEEL  THAT  YOU    ARE  MY    FRIEXD — MY  TRUE  FRIEND?' 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

life  and  sprang  up  at  double  quick  growth, 
as  it  were,  from  among  the  shrubbery  in  the 
court.  He  was  so  strange  and  foreign  look 
ing  that  I  fairly  gaped  at  him:  he  had  on  an 
astrachan  cap  without  a  visor, — that  was  the 
top  ring,  and  his  black  curls  bulging  out  un 
derneath  made  another  circle;  the  astrachan 
collar  to  his  coat  made  another,  and  the  fur 
trimming  around  the  bottom  of  it  made  the 
biggest  hoop  of  all;  from  that  came  down 
a  pair  of  long  legs  in  black  broadcloth,  and 
his  boots  were  long  and  thin. 

He  took  off  his  cap  to  me,  and  if  ever  a 
man  wanted  to  make  friends  he  showed  that 
in  his  face,  which  was  hard  as  nails,  though 
it  was  handsome  enough  and  all  broken  up 
in  a  smile. 

"I  spik  de  Inglais,  Musseer  Dikkon,"  said 
65 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

he,  and  unfolded  the  longest  mess  of  bony 
fingers  I  ever  touched,  trying  to  press  a  dol 
lar  into  my  hand. 

I  held  back  and  shook  my  head  at  him. 

"  I'm  a  paying  boarder  here,"  said  I;  "in 
fact  I  am  paying  more  to  the  support  of  this 
house  than  anybody  else,  and  I'm  just  tink 
ering  around  a  little  out  of  charity.  You 
keep  that  dollar.  I  reckon  you'll  find  it  come 
handy." 

He  lifted  those  oil-painting  eyes  of  his  to 
Cleopatra  as  if  he  did  not  understand. 

"It  is  all  right,  Count,"  said  she,  laughing. 
"Deacon  Morse  is  my  dear  friend.  He  is 
great,  Count,— splendid!  You  understand, 
—splendid!  He  will  not  go  back  on  us — be 
tray  our  secret,  I  mean— not  he!  And  the 

Doves  are  all  out.     Miss  Lacey  and  the  girls 
66 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

will  not  get  out  of  the  schoolroom  until 
one  o'clock.  The  cook  and  Blueinetta 
are  my  friends,  even  if  they  should  see 
us." 

She  was  putting  down  the  string  as  she 
spoke.  The  count  tied  a  slick  confectioner's 
box  to  the  end  of  it,  and  she  pulled  it  up  and 
began  to  eat  as  though  candy  was  just  as 
wholesome  a  thing  to  make  a  late  breakfast 
on  as  ham  and  eggs. 

They  talked  between  themselves  and  I  kept 
on  setting  my  window  pane.  Sometimes 
there'd  be  a  silence  and  I'd  see  a  little  note 
fluttering  up  at  the  end  of  the  string,  and  then 
there'd  be  another  coming  down.  I  was 
troubled  and  thoughtful  as  I  pegged  away  at 
my  work — and,  first  I  knew,  he  was  gone. 
I  just  saw  him  disappearing  through  the 
67 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

alleyway,  and  when  he  looked  back  and  saw 
me  he  lifted  his  cap  again. 

Then  I  looked  up  at  the  window,  meaning 
to  tell  Cleopatra  that  she  was  doing  a  wrong 
and  dangerous  thing  and  that  she'd  got  to 
promise  me  she  wouldn't  have  anything 
more  to  do  with  that  fellow  if  she  wanted  me 
to  keep  her  secret.  But  she  was  gone  from 
the  window  and  she  would  not  come  back. 
That  little  schoolgirl  was  as  canny  as  the 
serpent  of  the  Nile.  I  did  not  know  when  I 
should  have  another  opportunity  to  speak  to 
her,  and  if  ever  I  wanted  to  warn  and  ad 
monish  any  one  I  wanted  to  speak  my  mind 
out  to  that  beautiful  reckless  fool  of  a  girl. 

I  even  called  her  name,  but  it  didn't  make 
any  difference — she  would  not  come.  So  I 
finished  my  task,  knowing  it  wasn't  the  right 
68 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

thing,  after  all,  for  me  to  be  found  there 
hemming  and  hawing  up  at  Cleopatra's 
window. 

Candace,  and  the  Dove  she  was  with,  did 
not  get  back  for  luncheon.  I  sat  at  my  little 
table  alone  with  my  back  to  the  rest.  The 
wonder  of  it  was,  the  luncheon  I  had! 
Whether  Angelique  stole  it  outside  the 
house,  or  however  she  got  it,  it  was  mighty 
nice  and  refreshing.  No  one  else  in  the  room 
had  a  luncheon  like  mine,  for  I  heard  remarks 
among  the  girls  that  told  me  what  they  were 
eating  and  I  heard  Miss  Lacey  talking  on  in 
her  innocent  educated  way: — 

"Corn,    for  some  years   past,    has    been 

growing  steadily  in   favor  as  an   article  of 

food.     Corn   bread  when  served  hot  in  the 

morning  is  not  without  its  pleasing  qualities 

69 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

to  those  who  have  a  natural  and  persistent 
liking  for  that  especial  cereal.  Doubtless  the 
same  nourishing  qualities  are  inherent  though 
served  in  a  cold  condition.  In  Stuttgart  I  was 
told  by  an  eminent  chemist,  who  also  boasted 
a  large  practice  as  a  physician,  that  the  appe 
tizing  and  agreeable  qualities  of  the  food 
taken  into  the  system,  working  through  the 
imagination,  added  extremely  to  the  benefi 
cial  result  imparted  by  the  bare  nourishment 
itself  - 

The  stern  Miss  Dove,  at  another  table, 
began  to  talk  so  loud  and  imposingly  about 
the  interior  of  some  legation  house  which  she 
had  seen,  that  little  Miss  Lacey  clapped  her 
mouth  together  meanwhile  and  listened.  But 
as  soon  as  she  got  a  chance  she  went  on  in 

her  innocent  way  again.     If  it  had  not  been 

70 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

for  her  that  house  would  have  been  terrible. 
I  wondered  why  the  Doves  kept  her — her 
mind  ran  on  so  free  and  unrestricted — until 
Candace  found  out,  some  time  later,  that  she 
taught  the  girls  and  went  out  to  walk  with 
them,  and  all  that,  just  for  her  board!  That 
was  another  sample  of  the  gaiety  and  happi 
ness  we'd  started  out  to  find. 

I  could  not  help  eating,  I  was  so  hungry, 
but  it  hurt  me  to  feel  that  all  those  poor  crea 
tures  in  the  dining-room,  around  me,  were 
starving.  Blueing  waited  on  me  without  a 
sign.  I  think  she  had  told  Angelique  how  I 
was  situated  at  table,  for  that  old  darky  kept 
coming  to  the  kitchen  window,  peering 
across  the  court  with  her  poor  one  eye  as 
though  she  was  trying  to  discover  me. 
Sometimes  it  seemed  as  though  she  thought 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

she  saw  me,  for  she'd  smile  and  wave  a 
towel,  and  wave  and  wave  it,  until  all  I  could 
do  was  to  hope  that  the  stern  Miss  Dove 
wouldn't  peer  over  from  her  side  table  and 
see  those  signs  of  familiarity  and  affection  di 
rected  at  me. 

After  I  had  eaten  I  continued  my  odd  jobs 
of  tinkering  about  the  house  until  evening, 
and  at  last  Candace  came  back.  I  was  glad 
as  a  child  to  see  her.  I  hadn't  let  myself  real 
ize  until  she  came  how  homesick  I  was. 
We  went  up-stairs  together  and  sat  down  by 
the  bow  window  to  watch  the  sunset  and 
twilight  of  that  winter  day,  for  it  was  still  a 
good  hour  before  dinner. 

Over  opposite,  set  back  among  evergreen 
shrubbery,  was  a  great  white  palace  with 
marble  pillars;  it  looked  away  off  over  the 
72 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

wide  streets  and  marble  vistas  of  that  beauti 
ful  city.  Everywhere  about  were  grand 
houses  and  the  white  broad  streets,  but  that 
palace  standing  there  so  quiet  and  so  vast 
seemed  the  ancient  lord  of  all,  established  in 
heraldry  and  fame  and  ducal  splendor. 

But  it  wasn't; — it  was  Jim  Dillon's  house, 
built  five  years  ago. 

I  knew  all  about  the  family.  His  father 
was  my  father's  farm-hand,  and  Jim  went 
away  with  fifty  dollars  and  a  pickaxe  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  Jim  literally  fell  into  gold  at 
last.  His  wife — I  know  it  from  responsible 
testimony — used  to  hang  out  their  clothes  to 
dry  with  her  own  hands,  on  the  wizard 
bushes  around  their  cabin. 

As  Candace  and  I  sat  there  watching  the 
dying  splendors  of  the  sun  over  the  imme- 
73 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

morial-seeming  grandeur  of  that  palace,  a 
green-bodied  chariot  with  a  big  coat-of-arms 
emblazoned  on  it,  drawn  by  horses  with 
glittering  harness,  and  with  two  men  in 
livery  sitting  on  the  box,  rolled  into  the 
driveway  and  stopped  under  the  "  porte 
cochere." 

I  saw  the  same  sort  of  grizzled  beard  that 
I  remembered  so  well  on  old  Jim  Dillon  as 
he  used  to  stump  out  to  the  barn  carrying 
the  swill  buckets.  A  fat  woman  heavy  with 
sable  furs  stepped  out  as  the  footman 
opened  the  carriage  door,  and  the  grizzled 
beard  and  lank  form  of  Jim  followed;  then 
the  footman  took  out  the  rich  fur  carnage 
rugs  and  walked  behind,  and  a  porter  in 
livery  opened  the  great  hall  door,  and  it 
closed,  and  the  carriage  rolled  away. 
74 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

I  smiled, — and  tenderly.  There's  nobody 
in  the  world  but  what  needs  your  tenderness 
and  pity.  Candace's  mouth  was  open  with 
a  sort  of  awe. 

"  See  what  some  folks  come  to !  "  said  she. 
"And  their  family  wasn't  anything  like  as 
good  as  ours." 

"Jim's  lost  his  only  son,  Candace,"  said  I, 
— "  his  only  child,  for  that  matter." 

My  wife's  face  grew  soft  and  sad.  The 
sunset  was  growing  colder;  the  light  seemed 
to  be  drawing  away  from  earth  and  centring 
in  one  low  passageway  to  the  sky  far  off  to 
the  west.  There  weren't  many  lights  in  the 
palace;  at  least  it  appeared  dim  and  cold 
from  the  outside. 

"I  bet,"  said  I,  puffing  very  gently,  and 
at  intervals,  at  my  pipe  so  as  not  to  let  any 
75 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

of  the  fumes  get  out  into  the  boarding- 
school—"  I  bet,  Jim  and  his  wife,  too,  see 
times  when  they'd  like  to  get  away  from 
their  present  chains  of  clothes  and  customs 
and  staring  lackeys  and  paved  streets, — get 
away  up  midway  of  the  ridge  again  in  their 
old  cabin  and  sprawl  around  as  they  like 
once  more  between  the  earth  and  stars." 

"I  know  they  would  if  they  could  have 
their  boy  back,"  sighed  Candace.  "Miss 
Dove  said  they  were  tolerated  but  not  assim 
ilated  with  the  best.  here.  She  said  they 
sometimes  struck  a  false  note." 

"  I  didn't  know  that  the  Dillons  were 
singers." 

"You    know    what    I    mean,    Lysander. 
Miss  Dove   has   been   talking  all  day  about 
people  who  struck  false  notes." 
76 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

All  the  big  carriages  were  rolling  home. 

"  Who's  that  at  the  other  corner,  Can- 
dace  ?  "  said  I— for  women  quickly  get  posted 
on  neighborhood  matters.  A  woman  was 
alighting,  alone,  with  the  usual  footman  and 
rugs  following. 

"That's  a  senator's  house,  and  he's  lying 
inside  at  death's  door  with  pneumonia. 
They  have  two  doctors  and  two  trained 
nurses." 

"And  who  is  this  with  the  gray  horses?" 

"  It's  somebody  high  among  the  diplo 
mats.  His  wife's  gone  crazy  and  he's  get 
ting  a  divorce." 

"  And  who's  that  over  at  the  other  hand?  " 

"  That's  a  judge's  house.  It's  as  splendid 
a  carriage  as  any  of  them!  He  makes  a  great 
income — but  they  haven't  any  children.  Miss 
77 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

Dove  says  he  was  heard  to  say  he'd  give  all 
his  wealth  for  a  child." 

I  did  not  twit  Candace  any  about  finding 
joy  and  happiness.  We  sat  there  with  our 
hands  clasped,  for  we  were  homesick — but 
we  had  each  other. 

"So  Miss  Dove  was  warning  ye  against 
false  notes  ?  "  said  I. 

"Yes.  I  told  her  when  we  started  out 
this  morning  that  I  wanted  to  see  the  capitol 
and  the  White  House  and  the  place  where 
they  make  paper  money,  and  all  that — and 
she  smiled  sort  of  shocked.  She  said  only 
common  tourists  and  vulgar  people  went  to 
those  places.  She  said  any  one  who  wanted 
to  become  assimilated  with  the  very  best 
in  the  city  must  not  strike  false  notes,  and 
she  took  me  into  a  '  modiste's '  opening,  and 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

a  milliner's  opening,  and  the  biggest  jeweller's 
in  town.  1  haven't  seen  anything  to-day  but 
earthly  gauds  and  silly  vanities  and  a  man 
hurt  in  an  automobile  accident  on  the  street, 
and  I'm  sick  at  heart  and  tired  to  death." 

"  Couldn't  ye  get  Miss  Dove  to  go  into  a 
restaurant  with  ye  ?  " 

Candace     laughed, —  rather     bitterly,      I 
thought. 

"  She  jumped  at  the  chance,  Lysanderl 
Of  course  you  have  to  allow  for  fancy  res 
taurant  prices — but  she  ate  two  dollars' 
worth!  She  kept  talking  away  with  her 
head  up  as  though  food  wasn't  any  conse 
quence  to  her,  but  she  stowed  the  victuals 
away  like  a  tomb.  I've  done  my  last  sight 
seeing  under  her  thumb.  If  you  can't  go 
with  me,  I'll  stay  at  home." 
79 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"I'll  go  with  ye  to-morrow,"  said  I. 
"  I've  got  things  in  the  house  pretty  well 
fixed  up,  for  a  while,  anyway." 

Then  I  told  Candace  about  Cleopatra,  how 
worried  I  was  about  the  handsome  little  fool 
getting  compromised  some  way  with  that 
foreign  chap.  "She's  away  from  home," 
said  I,  "and  her  folks  think  she's  having 
good  nourishment  and  good  teaching  and 
good  care.  Instead  of  that,  she's  starved 
and  neglected  by  these  Doves.  All  they 
seem  to  care  about  is  '  style '  and  getting 
enough  out  of  somebody  to  ward  off  the 
landlord  and  the  gas  man  and  the  grocer, 
etc.,  a  little  longer.  We've  come  to  a  queer 
place,  Candace.  These  Doves  wouldn't  be 
sent  to  an  asylum,  as  I  know  of,  if  they 

were  examined  for  insanity,  but  according 
80 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

to  my  notions  of  honesty  and  common  sense 
they're  as  crazy  as  Bedlamites." 

"  That's  my  judgment  too,"  said  Candace. 
"  I'd  be  glad  to  start  for  home  to-morrow." 

"Something  tells  me,  Candace,"  said  I, 
"to  stay  a  little  longer.  We've  come  here 
for  a  purpose,  and,  for  one  thing,  perhaps, 
we're  going  to  save  that  little  Carmoody  girl 
from  doing  something  wild  and  mad.  I 
don't  know  how  nor  when,  but  we've  got  to 
keep  our  eyes  open,  and  remember  our 
sweet  Ruth,  whom  God  has  taken  out  of 
this  present  evil  world." 

Then  I  told  Candace  about  Angelique  and 
my  luncheon. 

"You've  had  a  good  deal  more  interesting 
time  than  I've  had  to-day,  Lysander,"  said 

my  wife,  but  she  was  not  jealous. 
Si 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

The  bell  rang  and  we  went  down  to  "  din 
ner,"  and  again  I  had  a  plate  of  victuals  not 
like  anybody  else's.  I  divided  quietly  with 
Candace — who  had  a  fair-sized  sample  of 
the  usual  fare.  We  heard  Cleopatra's  voice 
and  heard  her  munching  bread  crusts  on 
purpose  to  make  it  sound  loud. 

The  Doves  were  calm  and  said  a  costumier 
— from  New  York — was  coming  in  to  show 
off  some  negligees  in  the  parlors  that  even 
ing,  and  they  asked  Candace  to  stop.  Can- 
dace  told  them — for  she  was  getting  more 
poised  every  hour,  and  she  was  just  as  calm 
as  they  were,  that  "Once  a  year  she  had 
Miss  Perkins  from  Limner's  Falls  come  to 
the  house  and  fix  up  her  wardrobe  for  the 
year,  and  that  ended  it.  The  rest  of  the 
time  she  had  her  thoughts  on  something  else." 
82 


CARES  MULTIPLY 

Then  we  went  up  to  our  rooms  and,  about 
eight  o'clock,  I  went  out  to  get  some  pop 
corn  of  a  man  who  had  rolled  his  stand  up 
to  the  corner,  to  supplement  our  dinner;  for 
we'd  made  one  plate  of  victuals  do  for  two. 
We  wished  we  had  some  home  apples — pop 
corn  is  pretty  light,  and  there  was  still  a 
craving  vacuum  that  we  had  to  try  to  fill  up 
with  Potomac  water. 

"We'll  get  some  provisions  up  here  to 
morrow,  Candace,"  said  I,  and  comforted  by 
that  thought  we  went  to  bed. 

About  midnight  I  smelled  smoke  coming 
into  the  windows  of  my  room,  over  the 
court.  As  soon  as  I  was  well  awake  I  dis 
covered  that  it  was  a  mean  sort  of  tobacco 
smoke.  I  went  and  looked  out,  always 
dreading  that  that  foreigner  might  be  there 
83 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

again.  Always,  now  even  when  I  was 
asleep,  my  left  ear  was  wide  awake  to  hear 
any  noise  from  that  court.  It  was  all  quiet 
in  the  moonlight,  and  the  smoke  was  com 
ing  from  inside  the  house  out  through  the 
open  windows  and  so  into  my  windows.  I 
puzzled  over  it.  Angelique  did  not  sleep  in 
the  house,  and  being,  myself,  the  only  man 
on  the  premises, — who  could  be  smoking? 
Until  I  heard  giggling  and  tittering  coming 
out  through  the  windows,  too,  and  then  I 
knew  that  those  select  boarding-school  girls 
were  rustling  around  there  in  the  night, 
smoking  cigarrettes. 


V 

THE   ROMANTIC  MISS   CARMOODY 

THE  next  morning,  the  stern  Miss  Dove 
spoke  right  out  at  table.  "  Girls!  "  said  she. 
"  Girls  who  will  confiscate  a  pantry  key  and 
steal  in  there  at  dead  of  night  to  help  them 
selves  are  not  safe  members  of  any  commu 
nity.  So  I  take  this  opportunity  of  warning 
all  present  to  be  on  their  guard." 

Candace  told  me  that  those  girls'  faces 
were  fairly  flaming  with  wrath  and  pain. 
When  we  got  up-stairs,  we  heard  a  quick 
knock  at  the  door  and  in  rushed  Miss  Car- 
moody.  She  put  her  finger  to  her  lip;  "It's 
the  devotion  hour  in  the  schoolroom,"  she 
whispered,  "and  I  slipped  out.  Miss  Lacey 
85 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

is  telling  us  about  Saint  Cecilia.  She's  got 
twelve  different  photographs  of  her.  She 
just  raves  about  her.  She  won't  notice 
whether  I  slipped  out  or  not  while  she's 
talking  about  Saint  Cecilia.  But  I  must  get 
down  when  lessons  begin  or  she'll  have  to 
report  me." 

"Now  you  sit  down,"  said  Candace. 
Candace  looked  glad  and  motherly. 

"We're  not  allowed,  you  know,"  said 
Cleopatra,  "to  associate  with  any  guests  in 
the  house." 

"Well,  you're  going  to  be  allowed  to  as 
sociate  with  us,"  said  Candace.  "It  will  do 
you  good,  and  not  harm." 

"Come  and  make  us  a  call  this  evening, 
little  girl,"  said  I.  "We're  going  to  have 

something  to  eat  in  here." 
86 


ROMANTIC  MISS  CARMOODY 

She  flushed.  "  All  we  took  last  night  was 
a  tin  of  salmon.  We  did  it  for  fun.  '  Steal 
ing!'  The  idea!  My  papa  has  loads  of  money. 
That's  what  I  wanted  to  come  in  to  tell  you. 
'Stealing!'  You  ought  to  see  our  table  at 
home, — only  I'm  not  allowed  to  have  coffee. 
Don't  you  think  this  is  a  horrid  place  ?  " 

Candace  set  her  lips.  "The  view  outside 
is  pretty,"  said  she,  looking  out  of  the 
window.  I  looked  out,  too. 

"  Only  boarders  are  given  the  front  rooms," 
said  the  girl,  "though  my  papa  pays  a  lot. 
I'm  over  the  court." 

At  that  she  caught  my  eye  and  blushed 
again — not  with  shame  or  humiliation,  alas! 
but  with  a  wonderful  ecstatic  joy.  Candace 
led  her  to  a  chair,  and  pressed  her  into  it, 

and  Candace's  own  face  was  like  a  girl's — a 
87 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

good  sensible  girl's,  coming  out  from 
prayer. 

"My  little  girl,"  said  she,  "  Lysander  told 
me  about  yesterday  and  the  man  under  your 
window.  Do  your  folks  know  about  him  ? 
Who  is  he  ?  You  needn't  be  afraid.  Ly 
sander  and  I  will  never  bring  you  any  harm." 

Cleopatra  lifted  her  rapt  eyes,  the  small 
brown  hands  with  their  showy  rings  resting 
in  Candace's  plain  strong  hands. 

"  He  is  Count  Bonati — a  real  French  count, 
— whom  his  father  sent  away  because  he 
would  not  marry  the  ugliest  cousin  a  man 
ever  had.  But  his  father  is  relenting  and 
sending  him  lovely  letters — he  shows  them 
to  me.  Oh,  he  is  sweet.  Think  of  it!  how 
pleased  mama  and  papa  would  be — a  count 
ess  1  " 


ROMANTIC  MISS  CARMOODY 

"  You  just  take  his  word  for  it,  don't 
you  ?"  said  Candace. 

"I'd  put  Philippe's  word  before  any  one 
else's  in  the  world!"  flamed  the  girl— not 
angry,  but  looking  Candace  straight  in  the 
face  with  her  big  exalted  eyes.  "He  con 
fesses  regularly.  He's  so  religious,  for  a 
man,  and  so  tall  and  distinguished  looking 
and  such  a  voice!  I'd  marry  him  if  he 
hadn't  but  one  eye  like  the  cook — I'd  marry 
him  if  he'd  lost  both  legs  and  sat  at  the 
street  corner  begging — I'd  be  true  to  him! 
I'd- 

"You  would  let  your  folks  know  before 
you  married  him  ?" 

"I— I  think  so,"  said  she.  But  she  was 
a  living  embodiment  of  a  fool  romance,  in 
handsome  cover  and  binding. 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"  Where  do  your  folks  live  ?  "  said  I. 

"Baltimore,"  said  she,  proudly.  "I 
thought  everybody  knew  about  Le  Moine 
Carmoody,  wine  merchant,  Baltimore." 

"Now,"  said  I,  "my  wife  and  I  are  go 
ing  to  be  true  to  you;  but  unless  you  promise 
that  you  won't  run  away  or  make  any  fool 
hardy  promises  to  that  foreigner,  we  shall 
write  to  your  father  and  tell  him  all  about 
it." 

The  girl  studied  me  with  her  beautiful 
dreaming  eyes.  She  hadn't  been  trained 
much  at  home,  1  reckon.  She  did  not  seem 
to  consider  the  possibility  of  anybody  being 
rough  with  her. 

"  I  promise,  dear  Deacon  Morse,"  said  she. 
"Oh!  I  like  you  and  Mrs.  Morse  so  much! 
I'm  coming  to  you  whenever  I  can.  Now  I 
90 


ROMANTIC  MISS  CARMOODY 

must  go.  Miss  Lacey  must  be  about 
through  with  Saint  Cecilia." 

She  kissed  my  wife,  and  sailed  out,  in  a 
morning  gown  that  made  her  robust  girl 
frame  look  quite  queenly.  Candace  sighed 
when  she  was  gone.  "  She's  a  queer 
species,"  said  she, — "that  is,  to  me.  What's 
more,  she  isn't  used  to  keeping  her  word, 
Lysander;  she'd  go  off  at  a  spark;  she's  as 
light  as  vanity  and  as  silly  as  a  goose.  She 
ought  to  be  with  her  mother  and  a  nurse. 
Why,  at  her  age,  our  Ruth  was  as  sensible 
as  a  woman." 

"This  one  was  raised  half-French  in 
Baltimore,"  said  I,  "and  Ruth  was 
raised  of  one  kind  of  stock  in  old 
New  Hampshire.  But  it's  one  of  God's 
poor  lambs  all  the  same,  Candace,  and  I'm 
91 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

going  to  keep  my  ear  open,  nights.  Now, 
get  on  your  things,  for  I'm  going  out  with 
ye  myself  to-day." 

There  was  always  something  happening  in 
that  house.  Before  we  could  get  out,  we 
had  another  caller, — and  it  was  the  good- 
natured  Miss  Dove. 

"Deacon  Morse,"  said  she,  "could  you  ac 
commodate  me  by  letting  me  have  seventy- 
five  dollars  in  advance  ?  " 

"  In  advance  of  what,  Miss  Dove  ?  "  said  I. 

"Why,  board-money!"  said  she,  smiling. 
Then  her  face  grew  tremendously  serious. 
"  I've  got  a  note  to  meet  to-day,"  said  she, 
"and  I  don't  know  what  I  am  going  to  do. 
I  really  don't  know  what  I  am  going  to  do." 

"Suppose  you  couldn't  meet  your  notes, 
and  should  get  turned  out  of  the  house  ?  " 
92 


ROMANTIC   MISS   CARMOODY 

said  Candace;  "then  we  should  lose  our 
board-money,  shouldn't  we  ?  even  suppose 
we  wanted  to  stay  here  long  enough  to 
board  out  that  amount." 

I  was  afraid  of  a  rupture  between  the  two 
women,  and  I  had  too  many  things  to  look 
after  in  that  house  to  be  willing  to  leave  just 
then. 

"There's  no  danger  of  our  being  turned 
out,"  said  Miss  Dove.  "  We've  leased  the 
house  for  a  year,  and  that  note  won't  face  us 
for  some  time  yet." 

They  were  poor  dead-beats;  I  could  see 
that.  But  I  kept  my  council. 

"Now  you  make  out  a  receipt  here," — 

said  I,   putting  pen  and  paper  before  her— 

"for    seventy-five    dollars    in   payment  of 

board  up  to  the  date  named,  and  here's  your 

93 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

money."  I  kept  my  hand  lightly  on  the 
money  until  she  had  signed  the  receipt. 

"I  think  you're  crazy,"  said  Candace,  after 
she  had  gone. 

"No,"  said  I.  "My  keys  of  life  tell  me 
we'd  better  hang  'round  here  a  little  while, 
Candace.  Of  course,  we  pay  for  victuals  we 
don't  get,  but  we  can  shift  over  that  some 
how,  seeing  it  isn't  for  very  long.  Our 
rooms  are  big  and  sightly — not  like  hotel  and 
boarding-house  rooms.  That  view,  off  there 
is  worth  a  pile  to  me  so  long  as  I've  got  to 
stay  in  a  city.  Let's  make  a  shift  to  get 
along  a  while,  darlin',  and  when  our  time's 
up,  we'll  go." 


94 


VI 

AT  THE  RACES 

"Now  where  shall  we  go?"  we  said, 
when  we  finally  got  out-of-doors; — for  Blue 
ing  had  come  running  to  me  to  say  that  the 
furnace  had  broken  down,  and  I'd  been 
down  cellar  to  regulate  that;  all  it  needed 
was  a  little  applied  understanding. 

Car  after  car  passed  us  as  we  stood  delib 
erating  pleasantly  with  mutual  sympathy,  in 
the  bright  sunshine :  cars  that  led  to  Treasury, 
to  Capitol,  to  Dry  Bones  Museum,  to  all  sorts 
of  inland  places.  But  there  was  one  car,  or 
rather  two  cars  hitched  together — the  one 
behind  being  open — with  "Chevy  Chase 
95 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

Races "  showing  on  it  in  big  clear  letters 
covering  half  the  dashboard.  Car  after  car 
of  that  sort  went  past,  full  of  people;  and  at 
first  that  was  the  car  we  would  have  failed 
to  associate  in  any,  even  the  least  degree, 
with  our  plans.  We  hardly  gave  it  more 
than  a  shocked  glance;  it  was  something 
outside  our  sphere. 

"  The  Congressional  Library  is  said  to  be  a 
wonderful  place,"  said  I. 

"They're  welcome  to  it,"  said  Candace  in 
so  short  a  tone  that  I  was  a  little  surprised. 
"I'm  too  distracted  and  perplexed  to  go  and 
sit  down  in  a  library." 

Chevy  Chase  Races.  Another  car  went 
past  with  a  beaming  picnic-like  looking  lot 
of  folks  on  it. 

"There's  the  Smithsonian  Institute,"  said 
96 


AT  THE  RACES 

I,  honestly  thinking  I  was  proposing  some 
thing  sort  of  lively. 

"  I  don't  feel  like  standing  around  in  a  hot 
building,  such  a  day  as  this,"  sighed  Can- 
dace,  "to  look  at  canned  snakes  and  mum 
mies." 

"Well,"  said  I,  thinking;— " well,— the 
Senate's  adjourned  till  Tuesday,  they  say " 

Chevy  Chase  Races. 

"See  here,  Candace,"  said  I,  "what's  the 
harm  in  you  and  me  getting  onto  one  of 
those  '  Chevy  Chase '  cars  and  going  out  a 
ways  into  the  country,  anyway  ?  " 

"I  should  like  it,"  said  Candace;  "the 
air's  as  soft  as  it  is  at  home  in  October.  We 
needn't  go  to  the  races." 

"No,  of  course  not,"  said  I;  "we  can  just 
ride  a  piece  out  into  the  country." 
97 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

We  hailed  a  car  and  things  began  to  look 
bright  right  away.  It  was  just  a  genial  com 
mon  lot  of  folks,  not  a  mite  afraid  of  strik 
ing  false  notes.  A  man  that  looked  like  a 
butcher  got  up  and  gave  Candace  his  end- 
seat,  and  touched  his  hat  like  a  gentleman. 
The  folks  on  the  car  were  all  talking  and 
didn't  seem  to  be  afraid  or  suspicious  of  each 
other.  One  woman  had  three  little  children 
that  it  was  pretty  difficult  for  her  to  take 
care  of;  so  Candace  took  one  of  them  into 
her  lap,  and  the  mother  looked  up  glad  and 
thanked  her.  Candace  let  the  little  thing 
play  with  her  watch-chain  and  showed  it 
what  she  had  in  her  chatelaine  bag,  and  the 
child  screwed  up  its  little  nose  in  a  contented 
smile.  Children  were  always  comfortable 
and  quiet,  sitting  in  Candace's  lap. 


AT   THE   RACES 

"How  far  had  we  better  go,  Candace?" 
said  I,  after  we'd  jogged  along  in  this  way 
a  good  many  pleasant  miles,  and  signs  were 
that  we  were  getting  into  the  country  lead 
ing  to  the  races. 

"  1  am  not  going  to  give  up  this  poor  dear 
little  one,"  said  Candace,  "until  the  end  of 
the  trip.  Its  mother  has  more  than  she  can 
attend  to,  now." 

"We  can  go  as  far  as  the  park,  then," 
said  I,  "and  stay  right  on  the  car  when  the 
others  get  off,  and  we  can  go  right  back  to 
town." 

"Yes,  we  can  do  that,"  said  my  wife, 
who  looked  happier  than  I  had  seen  her  any 
time  since  we  came  to  Washington.  She 
was  conversing  with  several  women  about 
her,  and  I  was  smoking  my  pipe  on  the  rear 
99 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

seat,  side  by  side  with  the  good-natured  big 
man  who  looked  like  a  butcher. 

When  we  got  to  the  park,  women  and 
children  and  all  piled  off.  The  motorman 
was  carrying  his  steering  gear  to  the  other 
end  of  the  car  preparatory  to  going  back  to 
town. 

"Why!  ain't  you  going  to  get  off  ?"  said 
the  woman,  looking  disappointed  at  Can- 
dace.  "Oh!  come  along,"  said  the  big 
good-natured  man  to  me.  "  They're  straight 
races.  All  the  best  folks  goes." 

We  found  ourselves  sort  of  half  vaguely 
stepping  off  the  car. 

"We  can  wait  here  and  go  back  on  the 
next  car,"  said  Candace.  "  It  will  rest  us  to 
change  our  seats." 

"  Yes,"  said  I,  "  we  can  do  that." 
100 


AT  THE  RACES 

But  when  the  crowd  we'd  got  acquainted 
with  began  to  march  off  as  blithe  as  a  sum 
mer's  day,  we  being  right  in  their  midst, 
went  along  with  them.  "We  can  go  up  as 
far  as  the  gate,"  said  I.  "  It's  such  a  beauti 
ful  day." 

"  So  we  will,"  said  Candace. 

"  Have  your  gate-money  all  ready,"  said 
the  big  man.  "The  bell's  ringing  for  the 
first  race!  "  At  that  we  all  stepped  double 
quick,  and  there  was  a  spring  in  Candace's 
step  I  hadn't  seen  for  a  long  time.  I  had  our 
gate-money  ready,  and  Candace  and  I  didn't 
talk  any  more.  The  bell  was  ringing  and 
we  pelted  right  along  with  the  rest. 

We  got  down  in  the  front  row, — though 
people  were  moving  about  all  the  time; — 

and  I  never  saw  a  prettier  sight.     Out-of- 
101 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

doors,  just  the  grand  stand  roof  over  our 
heads,  the  blue  hills,  the  blue  sky,  the  lively 
people,  the  jockeys'  bright  colors.  We'd 
never  been  at  a  real  horse-race  before.  We'd 
been  to  the  home  agricultural  fair  of  course, 
where  Seth  Eaton  and  Homer  Bidlow  and  Os 
Nye  rattled  and  scrambled  around  the  track  in 
their  old  sulkies  and  came  in  on  the  last  heat, 
by  agreement,  neck  and  neck,  with  the  same 
old  three  cheers  from  the  crowd. 

But  these  were  running  and  hurdle  races 
with  big  stakes.  We  had  some  little  books 
in  our  hands  that  we  supposed  were  pro 
grammes  of  the  races,  but  pretty  soon  we 
saw  we'd  got  hold  of  betting  books  and,  to 
our  amazement,  everybody  else  was  betting. 
There  was  a  big  middle-aged  woman,  bor 
dering  to  elderly  in  the  seat  just  back  of 


us, — a  clean,  comfortable,  church-member 
looking  woman,  just  fit  for  home  life,  and 
you'd  know,  to  look  at  her,  she  could  make 
the  best  pies  and  doughnuts  of  anybody  in 
her  county,  and  she  was  betting  like  a 
trooper!  Candace  and  I  seemed  to  come  up 
out  of  water  to  get  a  long  breath. 

There  were  sporting  fellows  running  up 
against  us  all  the  time  crying  "Want  to 
bet?"  We  shook  our  heads.  Candace  had 
dropped  her  little  book  onto  the  floor  and 
put  her  foot  on  it,  and  I'd  let  mine  slip  down 
too.  We  felt  as  though  we'd  shaken  off 
some  pretty  slimy  batrachians  when  we  let 
those  books  fall. 

A  boy  came  along  selling  sandwiches. 
They  weren't  what  we  would  usually  have 

considered  first-class,  but  they  were  food, — 
103 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

and  how  good  they  tasted  there  in  the  open 
air  and  that  free  and  easy  scene!  Candace 
and  I  hadn't  enjoyed  a  meal  so  since  we  came 
to  the  Capital  City. 

"Well,  this  is  something  like  gaiety  and 
happiness,  isn't  it,  Lysander?"  said  my  wife 
a  little  triumphantly. 

"It  certainly  is,"  said  I,  smiling,  and  suck 
ing  away  on  a  stale  piece  of  ham  as  if  it  had 
been  genuine  nectar. 

We  did  not  realize  at  the  moment  what  a 
weight  of  hope,  suspense,  or  despair  some 
of  the  people  there  were  carrying.  But  as 
the  pack,  horses  and  riders,  came  straining 
home  along  the  track,  most  of  the  people  on 
the  grand  stand  rose  to  their  feet,  shouting 
and  yelling.  The  respectable  middle-aged 
woman  back  of  us  was  making  such  an  up- 
104 


AT  THE   RACES 

roar  we  even  turned  away  from  the  track  to 
see  what  ailed  her.  She  did  not  notice  us. 
She  was  looking  towards  those  hammering 
horses,  and  she  seemed  to  single  out  one 
with  her  beckoning  fingerand  burning  eyes, — 

"Come  on!  Come  on!"  she  called  to 
that  horse.  "Crusoe!  Hurrah!  Come  on! 
Hold  it!  One  better!  Crusoe!  Come  on, 
I  say! — Come  on! — O-oh  Lo-ord!  " 

As  the  horses  swung  under  the  wire,  she 
sank  to  her  seat,  and  she  seemed  oblivious 
of  every  one  there.  Great  tears  coursed 
down  her  cheeks,  and  her  lip  began  to  shake 
enough  to  break  a  man's  heart.  Candace 
reached  over  and  put  her  hand  on  her. 
"Have  you  lost?"  said  she. 

"I've  lost — every  race,"  sobbed  the 
woman  hopelessly;  —  "and  Nate  sent  me, 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

and  told  me  what  to  bet  on.  It  was  to  save 
our  place — Nate's  been  sick; — there's  a  pay 
ment  due, — or  they'll  foreclose.  Nate  said 
I'd  have  luck  to-day.  He  knew  it!  Oh,  my 
Lord!" 

"What's  the  payment  ?  "  said  I. 

"Fifty  dollars,"  said  she, — "and  instead 
of  getting  it,  I've  lost  my  '  ten ' — all  I  had 
to  bet  with.  All  gone!  All  gone!  Poor 
Nate.  Oh,  my  Lord!  What  shall  I  do!" 
There  were  young  women,  and  men  too, 
with  red  eyes  and  pale  faces,  here  and  there; 
but  this  sensible-looking  homey  old  lady — 
however  misguided  she  was — was  what 
went  to  our  hearts. 

Candace  hadn't  any  money  at  all  with  her, 
and  I  hadn't  but  five  dollars  in  my  pocket. 
The  old  lady  was  doing  wrong;  she  shouldn't 
1 06 


AT  THE   RACES 

ever  have  come  there  to  bet,  but  it  went 
sore  against  my  grain  that  those  sharp 
Dickies  around  there  had  robbed  the  poor 
soul  of  her  last  ten  dollars.  I  couldn't  judge 
her.  She  was  brought  up  in  a  different  coun 
try  from  what  I  was,  and  I  seemed  indeed  to 
be  in  a  foreign  country,  seas  and  continents 
away  from  the  old  farm  ;  but  I  figured  it  out 
that  where  there  was  a  burning  indignation, 
as  well  as  compassion,  in  anybody's  bosom, 
a  person  wouldn't  go  far  astray  if  they  acted 
on  the  impulse. 

I  had  seen,  now  and  then,  the  big  good- 
natured  man  who  came  with  us  on  the  car, 
as  he  wandered  from  grand  stand  to  pad 
dock.  I  spied  him  again,  now.  So  I  told 
Candace  I  was  going  to  wander  around  the 

place  a  little  and  have  a  smoke. 
107 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"Aren't  you  going  to  help  her?"  said 
Candace.  The  woman  was  crying  broken- 
heartedly. 

"Well,  I'll  take  a  look  'round,"  I  sighed. 

I  found  the  big  man  up  back  of  the  crowd, 
and  told  him  the  woman's  story.  He  ap 
peared  to  be  looking  at  me  more  than  listen 
ing  to  what  I  said.  "  You  remind  me  so  of 
some  folks  I  knew  once  when  I  was  a  boy," 
said  he  in  his  dull  slow  way,  but  looking 
kindly  at  me.  "They  was  mighty  nice 
folks  too.  1  was  born  back  in  New  England. 
You  and  your  wife  seem  like  them  folks." 

"I'm  dreadfully  sorry  for  that  woman," 
said  I.  "Seems  as  though  something  must 
be  done  to  help  her." 

"She's  a  steady-lookin'  old  girl,"  said  the 

man.     "  Lots  o'   fools  come  here.     Now  if 
108 


AT  THE  RACES 

you  want  to  make  a  little  something  for 
yourself,"  said  he  confidentially,  "I  can  put 
you  onto  it.  Come  on  down  to  the  pad 
dock  and  look  over  the  stock." 

I  went  down  with  him.  There  were 
some  pretty  tough  fellows  there;  the 
youngest  were  the  worst, — they  were  reck 
less  and  excited,  with  big  cigars  in  their 
mouths.  They  called  me  "Full  Dress," — 
not  directly,  but  so  I  heard  it  plain, — and 
asked  each  other  "What  salary  the  Baptist 
Church  was  paying  now?"  and  "If  the 
sleighing  was  good  over  in  Skedunk  ? " 
and  "If  the  cows  were  wintering  well?" 
and  "  Whether  the  hen-house  needed  shing 
ling?"  and  such  things  as  that.  My  big 
man  looked  sort  of  mad  at  them,  but  I 
didn't  mind.  I've  always  found  ye  could 
109 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

put  everything  beneath  ye  if  ye  only  kept 
your  head  up  well  and  looked  folks  square 
and  pleasant  in  the  eye;  and  pretty  soon 
they  appeared  to  be  getting  more  respectful 
and  friendly.  The  big  man  gave  me  some 
hints,  off  by  ourselves;  and  I  won  twenty- 
five  dollars,  over  my  five,  on  the  next  race. 
I  realized  the  wickedness  of  it,  and  I  felt 
very,  very  far  from  home;  but  after  all,  all  I 
could  see  in  my  mind's  eye  was  that  woman 
crying  away  up  there  fit  to  break  her  heart. 

The  fifth  race  was  going  to  be  the  biggest 
of  all,  and  there  were  two  favorites  down 
there  among  the  heavy  betting  men.  "I'm 
layin'  down  my  pile  on  Warsaw,  I  think," 
said  the  big  man.  "It  lays  between  him 
and  Tigress.  But  Tigress,  somehow,  is  too 

d d  much  of  a  slouch,  eh  ?" 

no 


AT  THE   RACES 

They  were  leading  Tigress  around,  and 
the  mare  looked  mighty  interesting  to  me. 
There  were  ten  horses  to  run  and  most  of 
them  were  beauties.  Warsaw  wasn't  bad, 
but  this  Tigress — at  first,  I  had  to  smile. 
She  was  mousing  along  with  her  nose  nearly 
to  the  ground,  and  she  gaited  so  loose  it  was 
ridiculous;  but  I  kept  studying  her  over, 
and  something — I  don't  know  what  it  was 
— a  kind  of  picture  before  my  eyes,  made 
me  see  that  shambling  loose-hung  creature 
leading  by  a  nose  or  two  in  the  trial  of  that 
race. 

"  I'm  going  in  for  Tigress,"  said  I. 

"By  thunder,  then  I'll  follow  ye,"  said 
the  big  man.  "  You  and  your  wife  brought 
me  luck  to-day.  By  hang!  I  believe  it.  I'll 

follow,  by  hang!     I  will." 
in 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

I  had  a  book,  now,  just  one  of  the  kind 
Candace  and  I  had  trampled  under  foot;  and 
it  was  well  marked  when  I  tucked  it  away 
down  in  my  overcoat  pocket,  and  went 
back  just  before  the  race  was  called  to  sit 
down  by  my  wife. 

"Couldn't  you  do  anything  to  help  her  ?" 
said  Candace  and  the  woman  herself  was 
looking  at  me  with  eyes  fixed  like  somebody 
that's  drowning. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  I.  "We'll  talk 
business  after  this  race.  I  don't  know. 
Let's  keep  quiet  now,  anyway,  and  just 
watch  this  race." 

It  was  to  be  twice  around  the  track,  and 
the  one  that  came  in  first  on  that  last  stretch 
was  going  to  be  the  winner.  I  knew  my 
horse  by  the  jockey's  yellow  and  black  cap 

112 


AT   THE   RACES 

— the  yellow  quarters  made  a  star.  I  saw 
my  little  star  twinkling  among  the  others,  as 
they  got  the  word  "  Go '  ;  and  then  it  stood 
out  distinct  from  all  the  rest — but  not  lead 
ing.  It  was  loping  along  behind. 

"What's  the  matter,  Lysander?"  said  my 
wife.  "I  thought  you  wanted  us  to  sit  quiet." 

"Sit  quiet!  "  I  mocked  her,  almost  crying; 
and  I  got  up  and  stood  on  the  seat  with 
some  others  to  follow  those  antelopes.  1 
fixed  my  eye  on  the  yellow.  That  jockey 
looked  as  though  he  was  going  to  the  post- 
office  on  a  hot  day,  and  wasn't  expecting 
any  mail  either.  He  wasn't  trying.  1 
wanted  to  get  a  grip  at  the  back  of  his 
collar.  I  wanted  to  fling  him  off  and  get  on 
myself. 

"  Lysander" — said  my  wife,  tugging  at  my 

"3 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

coat-tail, — "were  you  trying  to  help  her  out 
— that  way?"  Her  face  was  pale,  but  I 
thought  I  saw  a  sort  of  solemn  sympathy, 
only  waiting  for  me  to  speak  the  word. 

I  couldn't  speak.  The  yellow  star  began 
to  look  some  as  if  it  was  going  for  the  doc 
tor.  It  was  climbing  up  and  getting  in  among 
the  other  colors. 

"Lysander" — said  my  wife,  tugging  at 
me  violently — "which  one  is  it?" 

"Get  up  here!"  said  I.  "I'll  help  ye!" 
The  herd  was  all  rounding  in  on  the  first 
stretch,  and  yellow  and  blue  Warsaw  were 
tearing  away,  neck  and  neck,  ahead  of  the 
rest.  "The  yellow!  Candace.  Ain't  he 
gaining  a  little?  Say!  Ain't  he  gaining? 
He's  got  a  big  long  chance  before  him  to  pull 
ahead  now." 

114 


AT   THE   RACES 

But  as  they  swept  round  the  curve  for  the 
second  pull,  blue  led  him  again,  and  I  took 
hold  of  Candace's  arm.  She  was  standing 
beside  me  now,  and  she  was  white  as  a  sheet, 
but  she  stroked  my  hand  as  a  mother  would 
a  child  in  a  high  fever.  "  How  is  it?"  said 
she  presently,  "I  haven't  got  my  far-off 
glasses." 

I  dared  to  look  again,  with  her  comforting 
me  that  way — and,  all  of  a  sudden  it  looked 
as  though  yellow  had  heard  the  gates  of  a 
reservoir  burst  behind  him  and  was  forging 
against  death  to  warn  the  town!  No,  that 
boy  didn't  ride  his  horse — he'd  settled  into  a 
part  of  him,  easy,  light — wind  and  fire,  get 
there  or  die. 

"Get  there  or  die,"  I  echoed  the  spirit, 
aloud. 

"5 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

On  they  came,  neck  and  neck  again. 

"  Lysander,"  said  my  wife  in  a  voice  that 
sounded  miles  away, — "  Lysander,  be  calm." 

But  when  the  yellow  star  gained  a  nose,  I 
felt  one  of  Candace's  feet  pounding  on  the 
seat,  and  when  he  stretched  himself  out 
another  bit,  "Go!"  she  cried.  "Do  it,  now 
you're  so  near!  Do  it!  " 

And  he  did.  He  lit  in  under  that  wire,  a 
good  half-length  ahead  of  everything.  It  was 
pandemonium,  with  cheers  and  yells,  and 
Candace  and  I  were  there  right  in  it.  I  took 
off  my  silk  hat — that  had  never  witnessed 
such  a  scene  before,  and  never  would  again— 
and  spun  circles  round  my  head  with  it  and 
jumped  up  and  down  on  the  seat  yelling. 
And  Candace  stood  there  like  a  statue, — 

except  for  the  tears  of  joy  coursing  down 
116 


AT   THE   RACES 

her  cheeks,  and  one  hand  waving  her  hand 
kerchief  as  automatic  as  a  screw-factory. 

"  Wait  a  minute!  "  said  I,  and  I  flew  down 
the  stairs.  The  big  man  was  there  before 
me  with  his  hand  on  Tigress's  flank.  I  told 
my  gratitude  to  the  mare,  too,  and  to  the 
jockey.  Then  I  collected  up  my  fares,  and 
went  up  to  that  disconsolate  woman,  with  a 
good  round  roll  of  greenbacks  in  my  hand. 
1  put  them  down  into  her  lap,  and  Candace 
was  as  pleased  as  I. 

"  Here's  more  than  fifty,"  said  the  woman, 
looking  new-born  as  a  child. 

"You  can  keep  it,"  said  I — "  on  one  con 
dition.  We  haven't  got  any  Bible  here.  Just 
put  your  hand  up  to  your  heart  and  promise 
us  on  your  honor,  and  by  the  love  of  the 

mother  who  bore  ye,  ye  11  never  bet  money 
117 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

on  a  race  again  ?  You'll  quit  it,  in  true  and 
faithful  meaning?" 

"I  promise,  true  and  faithful,  God  knows." 
She  tucked  that  money  away  with  trembling 
fingers,  and  then  she  up  and  threw  both 
arms  'round  Candace's  neck,  and  kissed  her. 
"  God  bless  you,  and  I'll  try  to  be  fit  to  meet 
you  again  in  the  land  where  there's  no 
trouble,"  she  sobbed;  and  then  she  turned  to 
me,  and  up  went  both  arms  round  my  neck 
and  she  kissed  me  just  as  she  had  Candace. 

My  big  man  had  come  over,  and  he  was 
watching,  but  he  didn't  so  much  as  smile. 
"See  here,"  said  he,  trying  to  press  some  of 
his  roll  of  money  into  my  hand,  "I  really 
owe  this  to  you." 

"No,"  said  I.     "I'd  try  to  get  a  promise 

out  of    you  too,    if    I   could."     He  looked 
118 


AT  THE  RACES 

sheepish.  "I'd  like  to  shake  hands  with 
you  and  your  wife,  anyway,"  said  he.  So 
we  shook  hands,  and  then  Candace  and  I 
found  ourselves  in  a  crowd  again,  making  for 
the  cars;  some  of  the  folks  were  merry  and 
still  chaffing,  but  there  were  more  that  looked 
disappointed,  tired  and  sad.  Candace  and  I 
didn't  speak.  We'd  been  in  a  far  country. 
Until  our  car  had  rolled  along  quite  a  piece 
on  the  way  home;  then — 

"  I  was  thinking  " — said  Candace,  very  sad 
and  low, — "  would  anybody  in  our  own 
old  home  believe  it  ?  Would  you  and  I  have 
believed  it,  only  a  few  hours  ago  ? — that  we've 
been  standing  up  on  the  seats  at  a  horse 
race,  stamping  and  yelling  and  betting 
money?  You  and  I,  Lysander!" 

"It  doesn't  seem  believable,"  said  K. 
119 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"It  shows,"  said  Candace,  "we're  all 
fearsomely  alike,  after  all,  and  where  a  little 
step  will  bring  us." 

"Yes,  that's  true,"  I  said;  "and  some  of 
the  worst  of  it  we  didn't  see  to-day.  They 
told  me  that,  yesterday,  they  had  a  hurdle 
race, — over  in  that  place  inside  the  tracks, 
where  you  remember  seeing  the  white 
fences, — and  three  horses  got  mixed  and  fell 
in  a  heap;  and  one  of  those  little  jockey  lads 
was  so  hurt  he'll  die." 

Candace  gripped  my  hand.  It  was  sunset 
again, — of  that  short  winter  day — though  the 
air  was  mild  and  we  were  in  an  open  car. 
So  we  journeyed  along,  watching  out  at  that 
gate  in  the  west,  that  opens  for  travellers  at 
sunset  the  wide  world  over;  the  gate  that  we 
all  plead  at,  limp  through,  crawl  through, 


AT   THE   RACES 

somehow,  winners  and  losers  alike;  and 
not  very  sorry  any  of  us,  perhaps, — when 
that  time  comes, — that  the  race  is  over. 


121 


VII 

FLEEING   CHURCH   TO   ATTEND   A   FIRE 

WE  were  in  a  far  country,  Candace  and  I, 
sure  enough;  and  we  walked  softly  for  the 
sum  of  our  "false  notes"  was  rolling  up 
upon  us. 

It  was  "  Christmas  "  Sunday,  and  we  asked 
the  name  of  the  most  eloquent  preacher  in 
Washington.  We  didn't  ask  for  the  godliest 
man,  but  the  preacher  that  was  going  to  stir 
and  thrill  us  the  most — ah,  it  was  a  far  cry  to 
the  old  meeting-house  and  the  good  peaceful 
naps  we  enjoyed  under  the  best  and  kindest 
man  that  ever  walked  in  the  shape  of  a 
minister. 

"I    don't    know"— said    the    stern    Miss 

122 


TO  ATTEND   A  FIRE 

Dove,  in  answer  to  our  question — "what 
you  mean,  exactly,  by  the  most  eloquent 
preacher;  but  so  and  so  (she  mentioned  a  lot 
of  distinguished  names)  attend  the  Raines' 
Memorial  Church,  and  the  music  there  is 
very  fine  indeed." 

So  Candace  and  I  took  a  car,  and  wan 
dered  off  to  the  other  end  of  the  town.  We 
took  seats  pretty  well  back  in  the  church. 
It  seemed  odd  and  interesting  too  not  to  be 
sitting  right  up  under  the  pulpit.  Candace 
said  she'd  always  wished  that  she  could  sit 
back  in  church  just  once  in  her  life,  so  that 
she  could  watch  the  people  come  in.  Her 
father  was  a  deacon  too,  and  she'd  always 
been  close  under  the  pulpit  eaves. 

This    minister    tired    folks   out  with   the 

length  of  his  prayer  to  begin  with.     'Way 
123 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

back  home,  even  our  old-fashioned  parson 
never  made  such  a  long-winded  meandering 
prayer  as  that.  "  What'll  the  sermon  be  ?" 
I  whispered.  Candace  shook  her  head. 
But  there  was  a  lot  of  classical  music  to 
come  before  that.  The  choir  was  back  of 
us,  and  we  couldn't  catch  the  words,  but  it 
seemed  to  be  a  reiteration  of  something. 
The  soprano  had  it  first  and  she  gave  it  out 
six  or  seven  times,  or  more;  then  she 
handed  it  over  to  the  tenor  who  took  an 
equal  turn  at  it,  and  passed  it  on  to  the  bass, 
who  had  a  good  long  spell  at  it  himself. 
But  when  the  soprano  reached  out  for  it 
again  with  a  screech  that  penetrated  our  ear 
drums,  Candace  and  I  looked  at  each  other, 
and  I  saw  that  my  wife's  head  was  troubling 
her;  so  we  took  the  opportunity  to  tiptoe 
124 


TO   ATTHND   A   FIRE 

out  quietly,  so  as  not  to  give  offense.  As  I 
was  going  out,  I  raised  my  eyes  to  the  choir, 
and  who  was  that  tenor  standing  there  but 
"  Count  Bonati!" 

"Candace,"  said  I,  as  we  stood  in  the 
porch, — "  Miss  Carmoody's  count  was  stand 
ing  up  there  in  that  choir,  and  I'm  going  to 
try  to  find  out  something  about  him." 

We'd  already  had  a  good  talk  with  the 
sexton, — for  we'd  got  to  church  early.  He 
was  an  elderly  man  with  a  long  beard,  who 
had  hailed  originally,  he  said,  from  the  same 
part  of  the  country  as  we,  and  we  felt  ac 
quainted  from  the  start.  He'd  been  moving 
around  the  church,  inside  and  out,  appearing 
to  be  pleased  to  stay  outside  whenever  he 
had  the  chance.  When  we  tiptoed  out,  he 
tiptoed  out  after  us. 

I25 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"My  wife  wasn't  feeling  well,"  said  I. 

"I  thought  it  might  be  the  singin',"  said 
he.  "Before  I  got  used  to  that  kind  of  music, 
I  used  to  take  a  good  deal  of  time  outside 
myself." 

"I  want  to  make  my  little  contribution 
to  the  church,"  said  I,  and  I  put  into  his 
hand  the  dollar  which  I  always  give  at  home, 
unless  there's  some  special  plea.  "Can  you 
tell  me,"  said  I,  "anything  about  the  tall 
fellow  up  in  your  choir  that  sings  tenor?" 

"If  you'd  asked  me  that  question  last 
Sunday,  I  couldn't,"  said  he.  "You  see  it 
isn't  like  the  good  old  times  when  church 
members  did  the  singing.  But  nowadays 
anybody  with  a  voice  is  paid  to  come  in  and 
do  his  work  and  he  goes  out  when  he's 

through,  and  that's  the  end  of  it.     But  this 
1 26 


TO   ATTEND   A   FIRE 

being  Christmas  time,  the  church  has  been 
making  some  special  effort  to  look  up  all 
who  participate  in  any  way  in  its  services: — 
and  this  Eyetalian,  I  heard  some  of  the  ladies 
say  in  a  mother's  meeting  in  the  vestry,  is  a 
poor  fellow  that  gives  music  lessons  here 
and  there,  and  his  father  keeps  a  peanut  and 
fruit  stand  somewhere  on  Pennsylvania 
Avenue;  they  live  up  over  the  shop,  and 
there's  a  big  family  of  them.  They  didn't 
get  it  out  of  the  fellow  himself,  for  he's 
close-mouthed  and  he's  taken  another  name 
than  his  father's  anyway.  But  the  women 
found  it  out — a  woman'll  beat  a  detective 
any  time,  if  there's  anything  she  really 
wants  to  find  out." 

"I    don't    see    how   he   dared   tell    that 

girl  such  lies!"  said  Candace,  as  we  went 
1 27 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

down  the  church  steps.  "The  crazy  for 
eigner!  " 

"There's  lots  of  bluff  dared  in  a  city  like 
this,"  said  I:  "and  it  isn't  his  being  poor, 
it's  the  proportions  of  his  lying  that  makes 
him  out  a  fool  and  a  devil.  A  medium-sized 
one  is  bad  enough.  I  don't  mean  that  that 
little  girl  shall  have  anything  to  do  with  one 
of  his  dimensions." 

As  we  spoke,  suddenly  we  were  aware  of 
a  great  hubbub.  If  you've  never  seen  the 
marshal  and  the  fire-engines  and  the  hook 
and  ladder  company  coming  at  call  down  one 
of  those  long  broad  Washington  streets, 
then  you've  missed  a  picture, — a  sad  picture 
too;  but,  since  it  had  to  be,  we  stood  and 
looked  with  all  our  eyes.  The  horses  thun 
dered  past  us,  with  the  crowd  following,  and 
128 


TO   ATTEND   A   FIRE 

we  saw  how  some  in  the  church  where  we'd 
been,  slipped  out  and  chased  after  too. 

"Do  you  suppose  it's  a  big  fire?"  said 
Candace. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  I,  watching  the  tail 
of  the  ladder  wagon;  "  it  looks  like  it." 

We  were  marching  quick  step,  in  the  same 
direction  with  the  rest,  not  minding  whether 
we  were  striking  false  notes  or  not;  until 
Candace  spoke, — 

"Why,  if  there  isn't  that  old  sexton  that 
we  talked  with,  running  as  if  for  his  life, 
along  with  that  batch  of  little  boys!  " 

"Well,"  said  I,  "it's  nothing  wicked, 
that  ever  I  heard  of  to  go  to  a  fire." 

At  that  we  struck  into  the  best  pace  we 
could  on  account  of  Candace  being  so  heavy. 
I'd  not  seen  my  wife  race  to  her  limit  for 
129 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

many  a  year,  and  the  way  she  got  over  the 
ground,  without  losing  any  of  her  dignity 
made  me  surprised  and  proud. 

We  were  by  no  means  the  last  in  the  pro 
cession  when  we  got  down  to  the  fire.  It 
was  in  a  frame  tenement  house  in  a  block  of 
old  buildings;  and  it  was  a  strange  and 
abrupt  contrast,  from  the  prayer  we'd  heard 
back  in  that  beautiful  church,  easy,  white- 
handed  and  slow,  to  the  way  those  firemen 
were  shouting  their  quick  words  and  doing 
their  desperate  duty  in  smoke  and  flame,  on 
roof  and  ladder  and  window-ledge. 

To  get  a  woman  and  two  children  on  the 
top  floor,  before  the  frightened  creatures 
jumped  to  the  pavement, — that  was  the 
business  of  those  men;  and  I'll  never  see 

braver  or   quicker  work   done   than   I   saw 
130 


TO   ATTEND   A   FIRE 

that  morning.  The  cheers  went  up,  and  the 
tears  streamed  from  our  eyes,  to  think  what 
duty  can  come  to  mean  to  humanity, — just 
common  humanity,  unlettered,  in  a  blue 
flannel  shirt,  with  dirty  face  and  hands. 
Their  tragic  business  summed  up  in  "duty," 
to  save  life,  to  save  property,  self-regardless. 
The  work  did  not  seem  so  bitter,  when  it 
was  life  they  ventured  all  to  save,  but  when 
that  was  done  and  one  of  them  fell  in  the 
sweating  dizzy  toil  to  save  the  miserable 
block,  my  heart  fell  as  crushed  as  his  body. 

The  sexton  was  at  our  side  again. 

"It's  all  wrong!"  he  swore.  "Civiliza 
tion  is  all  wrong.  The  world's  mad " — 
perhaps  he'd  heard  it  at  one  of  those  women's 
meetings  in  the  vestry — I  don't  know.  "  Peo 
ple,  hived  in  cities — walls  and  pavements — 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

and  life  crushed  out  in  all  manner  o'  ways. 
It's  all  wrong." 

"  Yes,"  said  I — though  1  felt  as  helpless  as 
any  sexton, — "but  he  did  his  duty.  He 
couldn't  change  the  world,  but  he  did  his 
duty  in  it.  That's  enough." 

"I  feel  as  though  I'd  been  in  a  dreadful 
vast  church,  with  no  smaller  roof  than  the 
sky,  Candace,"  said  I  as  we  went  away. 

"We  slipped  out  of  church,"  said  she — 
very  pale, — "  and  raced  to  a  fire." 

"No,"  said  I;  "we  only  went  out  into  a 
bigger  church." 

"Maybe  so,  Lysander,"  she  sighed. 


VIII 

FURTHER  REVELATIONS   TO  THE  SEEKERS  OF  HAP 
PINESS 

"My  mind  is  diverted  enough  by  events," 
said  Candace.  "  It's  the  greatest  cat-dance 
in  this  house,  all  the  time,  that  I  ever  saw, 
but  it  isn't  the  kind  that  makes  merry — that's 
sure." 

"  No,"  said  I,  "it  does  all  seem  to  favor 
the  minor  key." 

"The  gas  collector  has  got  so  he  even 
glowers  at  paying  boarders,  when  we  see 
him  standing  in  the  hall;  the  door-bell 
doesn't  rest,  day  or  night,  for  folks  chasing 
here  with  their  bills;  the  marketing  tastes  as 
though  it  was  done  at  the  tail  end  of 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

the  garbage  cart,  and  I'm  afraid  there  isn't 
even  any  coal." 

Candace  rang  her  room  bell  for  the  third 
time,  and  Blueing  came,— 

"Still  there  isn't  any  heat  in  the  pipes, 
Blueing,  and  it  is  very  chilly  in  here.  Will 
you  tell  Miss  Dove  that  we've  got  to  have 
some  heat." 

'  Yas  'm,  I'll  tell  her,  'm.     I'll  tell  her  shu' 
enough." 

'  Blueing,  is  there  any  coal  ?  " 

"I  ain't  say  in'  that  there  is  or  there  ain't. 
I  ain't  sayin'  nothin'.  But  I  wish  you-alls  go 
down  in  the  cellar  an'  see  what  you  think 
about  coal." 

"  Tell  Miss  Dove  we  want  to  see  her." 

After  some  time  the  stern  Miss  Dove 
knocked  and  did  not  wait  for  an  answer  but 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

sailed  right  in,  in  one  of  her  usual  elaborate 
trailing  gowns. 

"I  cannot  understand  what  is  the  matter," 
said  she.  "  I  am  very  seriously  engaged  this 
morning,  and  Blueinetta  keeps  running  to  me 
with  your  demands.  The  furnace  is  full  of 
coal  and  there's  a  tremendous  fire  on.  You 
will  feel  the  warmth  presently,  1  am  sure." 
She  smiled  on  us  coldly  and  condescend 
ingly,  and  left  with  as  little  ceremony  as 
she'd  come. 

"Now,  if  there  is  no  coal  in  the  cellar  I'm 
going  to  get  hold  of  that  baggage — I  don't 
care  how  seriously  engaged  she  is — and 
speak  my  mind  to  her,"  declared  Candace. 
"  She  isn't  any  more  seriously  engaged  now 
than  she  will  be  when  I  get  hold  of  her! " 

The  door  opened  again,  suddenly — I  don't 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

know  whether  Miss  Dove  heard  Candace's 
last  words;  but  she  was  quite  gracious. 
After  all,  she  was  getting  money  out  of  us, 
and  wanted  to  get  more. 

"We  are  to  have  a  most  interesting 
lecture  on  the  'Eye,'  in  the  parlors,  this 
afternoon,"  she  said.  "  Professor  Maxwell — 
no  doubt  you  have  heard  of  him — is  coming 
to  speak  to  the  young  ladies  on  the  forma 
tion,  character  and  treatment  of  the  eye. 
We  shall  be  happy  to  have  you  attend." 
And  so,  having  discharged  herself  of  all  duty 
towards  us,  she  shut  the  door  on  us 
again. 

"I  suppose  he'll  say  our  eyes  are  pretty 
green,"  said  Candace,  "  and  I  shan't  blame 
him." 

"They're  blue,  darlin',"  said  I,  "and  that's 
136 


SEEKERS  OF  HAPPINESS 

one  of  the  patientest  and  kindest  colors  for 
an  eye,  in  the  world." 

Candace  sniffed,  and  I  did  not  wonder. 

"  You're  soft,  Lysander,"  said  she. 

"That's  it,"  said  I,  "we  ought  to  feel 
pity.  I'm  afraid  these  Doves  are  hard.  I'm 
getting  to  be  afraid  they  are.  Dove  is  not  a 
hard  name,  but  it  seems  to  me  these  folks 
are  pretty  near  what  we  call  'dead-beats.' 
They've  had  their  struggle  with  the  world. 
They've  failed  and  started  up  a  bluff,  and 
failed  and  started  up  another  bluff,  and  kept 
it  up  until  there's  no  more  of  the  daisy  and 
violet  left  in  them  than  there  is  in  a  manu 
factured  cake  of  ice.  They'll  have  to  thaw 
and  come  to  earth  before  there'll  be  anything 
natural  about  them.  I  pity  folks  that  are 
poor  and  in  trouble,  God  knows;  but  I  don't 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

want  to  be  faced  out  with  lies!    Now  I'm 
going  down  to  see  if  there's  any  coal." 

The  result  of  my  observations  made  me 
deliberate  considerable  before  going  back  to 
Candace.  Old  Louis — Angelique's  husband 
—who  came  morning  and  evening  to  tend 
the  furnace,  was  in  the  cellar,  sure  enough, 
and  he  welcomed  me  with  an  anxious  smile. 

"I  been  scrapin'  round  heah  wid  an  iron 
rake,"  said  he,  "tryin*  ter  beat  up  some  lit 
tle  hy-spy  piece  o'  coal,  maybe,  som'er's; 
but  dar  ain't  'nufT  fo'  a  sample.  No,  suh,  I 
cayn't  find  'nuff  fo'  de  leetles'  no-count  sam 
ple  o'  what  coal  is." 

"Have    the    Doves    ordered    any    coal, 
Louis  ?  "  I  said,  and  I  was  beginning  to  feel 
rather    grim    as    I   compared    Miss    Dove's 
words  with  that  dead  furnace. 
138 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

"Oh  yas,  dey's  ordered  coal  'nuff.  Yas, 
suh,  dey's  'nuff  coal  ordered.  But  'pears  to 
me  dem  dealers  is  gittin'  tired — looks  dat 
way  to  me." 

"  Let's  look  around  here  for  some  splinters 
and  get  up  a  little  blaze,  Louis,"  I  said,  "and 
I'll  see  what  can  be  done."  We  found  what 
few  dry  goods  boxes  there  were  remaining 
and  Louis  began  knocking  them  up.  I  went 
up-stairs  straight  and  indignant  to  Miss 
Dove's  door. 

But  before  I  knocked  I  hesitated.  After 
all,  she  was  a  woman  desperately  fixed,  and 
if  it  was  mainly  through  her  own  fault,  so 
much  the  harder  for  her.  While  I  had  a 
good  competency  laid  away  besides  my 
farm;  and  the  cash  I  had  brought  with  me 
was  sufficient  for  emergencies.  Candace 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

must  be  warmed.  I  shouldn't  make  any 
thing  by  upbraiding  Miss  Dove,  for  it  was 
not  probable  she  had  any  money  left  and  she 
certainly  hadn't  any  credit. 

So  I  slunk  out  the  back  way,  so  that  Can- 
dace  would  not  see  me  from  her  window, 
and  found  the  nearest  coal  dealer.  But  I  de 
cided  to  be  canny.  "Have  you  any  bill 
against  the  Doves  on  Grandpont  Circle?"  I 
asked.  For  I  thought,  just  as  like  as  not, 
after  I'd  paid  for  some  coal  he  might  keep 
the  money  in  payment  of  some  old  debt  of 
the  Doves,  and  not  send  up  the  fuel  at  all. 
However  the  man  looked  over  his  books  and 
said  he'd  never  had  any  dealings  with  any 
body  by  the  name  of  Dove. 

At  that  1  breathed  freely  again,  and  made 
a  bargain  whereby  some  coal  was  to  be  sent 
140 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

instanter.  Old  Louis  was  glad,  and  Angel- 
ique  gave  me  an  affectionate  poke  in  the 
chest,  when  I  got  back,  and  called  me  her 
"beluvving  Gunnel  Vick'ry,"  right  where 
we  three  stood  in  the  kitchen. 

"Nex'  thing,  Gunnel  Vick'ry,  suh,"  said 
Louis,  "how  my  wife,  heah,  gwine  ter  git 
her  wages  ?  Six  weeks  she  been  a-wukkin' 
off  her  marrer  bones  'mongst  dese  yere 
heathen  at  free  dollah  a  week.  How  much 
dat  come  to?" 

"  Eighteen  dollars,"  said  I. 

"Mah  Glory!     How  she  gwine  git  dat  ?" 

"She'll  have  to  board  it  out,"  said  I,  and 
began  to  laugh  in  spite  of  myself.  Angelique 
was  not  slow  at  seeing  the  joke,  and  held  her 
sides  and  shook  her  head,  the  tears  flowing, 
fairly  helpless  with  merriment.  I  wished 
141 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

Candace  had  seen  her.  Louis  had  some 
solemn  inclinations  on  the  subject,  but  he 
laughed  with  a  boisterous  bass. 

"Wai",  I  got  to  be  gwine,"  said  he.  "  I  be 
'round  to  tend  de  fire  when  de  coal  comes." 
Louis  had  a  little  express  wagon  with  a  pole, 
which  he  trailed  after  him  wherever  he  went. 
He  wore  a  long  white  apron;  he  limped  and 
carried  a  cane  and  was  smoking  a  pipe  be 
sides,  so  that  his  whole  appearance  was  that 
of  an  individual  extremely  actively  employed 
and  burdened  with  care,  but  what  were  the 
offices  performed  on  his  seemingly  heavy 
peregrinations  I  never  knew. 

I  went  up  to  Candace.  "  Well,"  said  she 
turning  from  the  window — where  she  was 
often  interested — "  is  there  any  coal  ?  " 

"There  is  some  ordered/' I  said.  "I've 
142 


SEEKERS  OF  HAPPINESS 

found  that  out  to  my  satisfaction,  and  it  will 
be  here  presently." 

"  Pooh!  they'll  never  pay  for  it,"  said  Can- 
dace.  "  Those  poor  tradesmen!  " 

"No,"  said  I,  "I  believe,  myself,  they'll 
never  pay  for  it." 

I  knew  that  Candace  was  going  to  probe 
me  further,  as  to  whom  I  saw  about  the  mat 
ter  and  whether  I  went  to  Miss  Dove,  etc., — 
when  her  attention  was  suddenly  diverted 
and  she  exclaimed, 

"Do  come  here,  Lysander.  Of  all  the 
works  going  on  in  and  around  this  house  I 
believe  there's  no  match  in  Bedlam!  Come 
here!  " 

The  admiral's  little  boy — next  door — had 
crept  out  through  a  window  to  the  third 
story  balcony  of  that  big  gray  stone  house, 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

armed  with  a  basin  of  water  and  a  drinking 
glass.  The  full  basin  formed  his  base  of 
supplies,  to  which  he  reverted  with  his  glass, 
and  with  this  projectile  he  was  sprinkling 
the  passers-by,  far  down  on  the  sidewalk 
below. 

We  could  see  him  select  his  victims  with 
the  kindling  eye  of  a  true  warrior.  Not 
every  one  did  he  sprinkle,  but  he  worked 
with  the  discrimination  of  an  artist  and  a 
Christian.  The  girl  with  crutches,  the  totter 
ing  old  man,  the  negro  woman  with  her 
basket  of  clothes,  passed  by  unscathed. 

"  But  here  comes  one  will  have  to  take  it," 
gasped  Candace  to  me,  and  we  saw  a  youth 
swinging  down  the  avenue,  conceit  and  fash 
ion  personified  in  his  gait.  The  little  brown 

hand,  unseen,  so  high  above,  darted  out  with 
144 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

its  full  glass,  and  the  dude  received  the 
douche,  graceful  as  a  fountain,  over  the  eaves 
of  his  silk  hat.  The  boy  dodged  out  of  sight 
under  the  railing  of  the  balcony.  The  dude 
looked  up,  looke  1  around,  looked  everywhere, 
shook  his  hat,  took  out  his  handkerchief  and 
wiped  his  face,  muttered,  started  to  go  up  to 
ring  somebody's — anybody's — door-bell,  hesi 
tated,  and  walked  away,  mad  as  a  hornet. 

As  he  passed  out  of  sight,  up  came  the 
admiral's  little  boy  again. 

"Don't  let  the  little  imp  see  you  smiling," 
said  Candace.  "I  don't  know  but  it's  your 
duty,  Lysander,  to  step  over  and  tell  his  folks 
what  he's  up  to. 

But  before  we  could  decide  on  this,  we 
saw,  coming  very  stately  down  the  avenue, 
the  stern  Miss  Dove  herself— who  had  been 
MS 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

out  on  some  little  errand.  She  had  on  a 
twenty  dollar  hat  and  a  fur  cloak  that  reached 
nearly  to  her  ankles,  and  you  wouldn't  think, 
to  look  at  her,  that  the  very  cook  in  her 
kitchen  was  making  supplication  to  a  stranger 
for  her  wages.  Her  head  was  up,  and  she 
had  just  the  calm  insolent  face  she'd  shown 
to  us  when  we  sat  shivering  and  she  told  us 
the  furnace  had  a  tremendous  fire  on. 

"Shall  I  go  over  before  she  gets  under  the 
balcony,  Candace?"  said  I.  "He  may  pick 
her  out.  No  knowing." 

"  You  sit  still,"  said  Candace. 

Of  course  we  knew  he'd  pick  her  out. 
She  had  every  sign  manual  of  the  race 
he  was  extinguishing;  and,  sure  enough, 
the  little  brown  hand  darted  out  again,  and 

it  never  missed  its  aim.     Miss  Dove  got  the 
146 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

charge  full  in  her  face.  The  boy  ducked  out 
of  sight,  but  there  were  Candace  and  I, 
blank  and  stupefied,  gazing  square  down  on 
her  from  our  window.  She  didn't  suspect 
us,  however.  She  knew  the  ambush  and 
just  who  lay  behind  it,  and  she  tripped  up  the 
steps  and  rang  that  admiral's  door-bell 
viciously. 

"The  dear  little  boy!"  said  Candace. 
"Can't  you  make  signs  to  him  to  get  inside 
with  his  glass  and  basin  before  she  has  time 
to  tell  of  him  ?  " 

But  even  as  we  were  speaking  a  man 
servant  stepped  through  the  window  to  the 
balcony,  picked  up  the  little  rascal  and  car 
ried  him,  kicking,  inside. 

"It's  a  shame!"  said  my  wife.  "To  tell 
on  a  child  like  that!  The  sweet  baby !  Did 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

you  see  what  lovely  eyes  he  had,  Ly- 
sander?" 

"Yes,"  said  1,  "he's  a  pretty  little 
fellow.  But  don't  you  fret.  They  won't 
punish  him  much.  Children  don't  get 
whipped  for  their  pranks  now  as  they 
used  to." 

"She  got  it  full  in  the  face,  didn't  she?" 
said  Candace  with  unholy  satisfaction,  re 
verting  to  Miss  Dove.  "  What  did  you  say 
to  her,  Lysander,  when  you  went  to  see  her 
about  the  coal?" 

"  Well,  I  didn't  say  as  much  to  her  as  I'm 
going  to  say,"  I  replied. 

I  wondered  what  Miss  Dove  would  think 
when  she  heard  that  fuel  being  delivered, 
rattling  down  into  the  cellar.  I  studied  to 

meet  her  in  the  hall,  and  at  last  I  came  face  to 
148 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

face  with  her.  She  was  so  dignified  she 
hardly  saw  me. 

"See  here,  Miss  Dove,"  said  I,  "I'd  rather 
help  ye  than  fight  ye,  any  day,  but  just  be 
tween  you  and  me  " — and  I  lowered  my  voice 
so  no  one  could  hear — "  I  ask  ye  not  to  lie  to 
me.  You  told  us  there  was  a  big  fire  in  the 
furnace,  whereas  you  knew  all  the  time  there 
was  not  any  fire  nor  any  fuel  in  the  cellar. 
Now  I've  got  some  coal  and  paid  for  it,  and  I 
want  you  and  me  to  be  honest  friends  and 
tell  the  truth  to  each  other." 

She  looked  at  me  as  though  I'd  come  from 
the  barnyard,  and  she  never  blushed  or 
quailed.  I  was  beginning  to  see  she  was  a 
sort  of  woman  I'd  never  fallen  in  with 
before. 

"  If  you  do  not  like  it  here,"  said  she,  "it 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

is  perfectly  optional  with  you  to  go  some 
where  else." 

"But  I've  paid  ye  in  advance,"  said  I,  and 
I  almost  wished  Candace  was  there  to  shake 
her. 

"Oh,  well,"  said  she,  "  my  lawyer  would 
tell  you  that  you  could  not  possibly  claim 
anything  refunded  on  that  score." 

"Your  lawyer  ?  "  said  I.  "  There's  another! 
You  haven't  got  any  lawyer" — but  she'd  left 
me  standing  there,  and  I  was  only  talking  to 
vacancy. 

At  first  I  thought  I'd  go  to  Candace  and 
share  my  indignation  with  her;  then  I  de 
cided  to  smother  it  down  and  make  things  as 
bearable  for  my  wife  as  they  could  be.  Be 
sides,  as  I  thought  a  bit  more,  I  always  felt 
sorry  for  that  hard  Miss  Dove.  She  must- be 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

as  hopeless  and  bitter  as  mire  weed  inside, 
thought  I.  It  was  a  terrible  thing  to 
have  young  girls  under  such  an  influence, 
taught  that  "  social  position  "  and  dress  were 
all,  and  leaving  character  out  of  the  account. 
Why  shouldn't  Cleopatra  deceive  and  lie, 
even  more,  perhaps,  than  she  had  inclined  to  by 
nature  ?  And  as  I  thought  of  her  and  "  Count 
Bonati"  I  did  not  feel  like  quitting  the  camp 
just  yet. 

Miss  Dove  seemed  to  have  declared  war, 
though.  Neither  she  nor  her  sisters  recog 
nized  us  when  we  went  in  to  luncheon.  They 
had  placed  the  pupils  so  that  they  all  sat  with 
their  backs  turned  even  to  Candace,  now, 
and  they  had  been  told  not  to  look  up  at  us, 
either,  when  we  came  in. 

"I  expect  she  feels  pretty  sore  about  your 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

stirring  her  up  to  get  coal — and  then  having 
that  water  dashed  into  her  face!"  said  Can- 
dace,  afterwards, — but  still  my  wife  looked 
as  though  she,  herself,  couldn't  quite  get  over 
the  relish  of  it.  "  Let's  go  in  to  their  eye  lec 
ture  this  afternoon,"  she  continued.  "Per 
haps  it  will  make  them  feel  better.  You 
know  we've  slighted  all  their  parlor  dress- 
exhibitions." 

We  went  down  to  the  parlors  early  and 
took  seats.  Presently  the  Misses  Dove  and 
the  lecturer  came  in,  followed  by  Miss  Lacey, 
the  three  pupils,  and  some  other  girls  who 
had  been  haled  in  so  as  to  make  it  look  as 
though  there  was  more  of  a  school.  Blueing, 
in  a  clean  white  apron  and  a  cap,  was  made 
to  sit  down  as  a  sort  of  attendant,  by  the 
door;  for  those  Doves  could  put  style  onto 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

any  affair;  they'd  have  fixed  up  three  burnt 
matches  so  as  to  give  them  an  air. 

The  lecturer  spread  out  his  blood  and  nerve 
paintings  of  the  eye,  and  Candace  shivered — 
she  never  could  bear  to  see  the  human 
mechanism  all  turned  inside  out.  He  had  an 
unconsciously  amusing  manner,  and  it  was 
evident  that  Cleopatra  and  those  strange  girls 
who  had  come  in  were  going  to  be  fated  to 
giggle  before  things  went  much  farther. 

However,  he  was  getting  on  with  his  lec 
ture  deep  and  far,  and  we  had  all  settled 
down  to  listen  patiently  and  respectfully — 
when  we  heard  a  heavy  waddling  gait  com 
ing  along  the  hall,  and  there  in  the  doorway 
stood  poor  old  Angelique  in  her  kitchen 
sacque  and  sink  apron.  She  had  not  taken 
any  pains  to  fix  up,  for  she  was  angry. 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

Blueing  had  been  invited  to  the  eye  lecture, 
and  she  had  not.  But  she  had  planned  an 
attack  that  clean  put  the  eye-lecturer  and  all 
his  audience  to  rout. 

"O1"  Miss  Dove,"  said  she,  in  gutteral 
tones — and  you  would  never  believe  that 
Angelique's  face  as  we  saw  it  before  us  now 
could  be  anything  but  hostile  and  ugly — "  Ol' 
Miss  Dove,  will  yo'  please  ter  pay  me  my 
wages  right  straighterway!  I  want  ter  git 
out  o'  dis  yer  job.  Dey's  nuffin'  ter  cook,  an' 
nuffin'  ter  cook  it  -aid,  tell  Gunnel  Vick'ry 
went  out  dis  mornin'  and 

Miss  Dove  started  up  to  go  to  draw  her 
aside  out  of  the  door,  but  Angelique  never 
moved  nor  turned  her  face. 

"  Wat's  mo',"  said  she,  glaring  at  the  lec 
turer, — "yo'  was  brung  in  heah  ter  taunt  me 
154 


SEEKERS  OF   HAPPINESS 

wid  not  huvin'  but  one  eye!  Dat's  why  yo' 
was  brung  inter  dis  house.  Yo'  all  come  in 
heah  ter  make  derision  o'  me  'cause  1  ain't 
got  but  one  eye — Bluein'  an'  all,  an'  on'y  me 
lef  out.  Yo'  blow  de  horn  an'  congergate 
an'  mux  in  heah  togedda  jes'  ter  scorn  me 
'cause  I  ain't  got  but  one  eye  — 

Miss  Dove  took  hold  of  her  to  draw  her 
away,  but  Angelique  straightened  up  so 
forcibly  that  Miss  Dove  fell  back. 

"Gi"  me  my  wages  ol'  Miss  Dove,"  she 
screeched — "  I  wan'  ter  git  out  o'  dis  yer!  " 

Candace  gave  me  a  push,  though  I  was  all 
ready  to  advance  of  my  own  accord,  and  I 
went  up  to  Angelique,  but  I  did  not  take 
hold  of  her  forcibly.  I  bowed  and  offered 
her  my  arm. 

"Beg  your  pardin,  grant  yer  grace, 
*55 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

Gunnel  Vick'ry,"  said  she  with  one  of  her 
beaming  smiles,  as  she  curtsied  low  and 
laid  her  hand  on  my  coat  sleeve  in  readiness 
to  walk  away  with  me.  "  Dey's  low-down 
folks  in  dar  not  fit  fo'  a  gemman  like  you 
fer  'sociate  wid,  Gunnel,"  said  she,  throwing 
a  last  black  glance  towards  the  occupants  of 
the  parlor — "a  mess  o'  low-down  folks 
w'at  blowed  deir  horn  an1  muxed  deirselves 
in  dar  togedda  jes'  ter  taunt  me  'cause  I  ain't 
got  but  one  eye." 


156 


IX 

HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

I  SAW  that  Candace  was  getting  interested. 
While  she  did  not  own  up  to  it  by  any 
actual  admission  and  it  certainly  was  not 
joy  and  gaiety  that  were  holding  her,  yet 
in  a  tacit  quiet  sort  of  way  she  had  stopped 
making  complaints  an.d  she  did  not  harp  any 
more  on  our  making  haste  to  get  back  to 
New  Hampshire. 

She  seemed  more  contented  around  the 
house.  Of  course  we  went  out  to  places 
of  interest;  and  saw  how  the  money  was 
manufactured,  and  looked  at  the  dead  and 
gone  things  in  the  museum,  and  took  the 
elevator  in  the  capitol  three  days  in  suc- 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

cession  only  to  have  word  sprung  on  us 
when  we  got  up  that  the  "senate  had  ad 
journed."  Candace  did  not  seem  put  out  or 
even  disappointed. 

She  always  seemed  willing  to  go  back  to 
the  house:  for  one  thing,  the  admiral's  little 
boy,  in  the  next  house,  had  the  croup;  when 
she  heard  that  Candace  had  gone  right  up 
without  asking  leave  of  anybody  and  rung 
their  door-bell, — for  she  could  cure  croup  if 
anybody  could, — and  they'd  let  her  in  and  she 
had  doctored  the  little  man; — until  now  she 
loved  to  look  at  him  playing  on  the  sidewalk 
outside  with  his  Christmas  fire-engines  and 
catapults,  just  as  he  used  to  do.  She'd  sit  at 
the  window  and  smile  and  wave  at  him, 
and  when  he  waved  back  as  he  did  every 
few  minutes,  she  looked  as  happy  as  sunshine. 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

Then,  the  fact  is,  our  house  on  Grandpont 
Circle  seemed  to  be  charged  with  something 
all  ready  to  go  off,  and  with  intimations  of 
livelier  business  than  any  of  these  makeshifts 
that  are  put  on  at  theatres.  It  may  have 
been  just  a  singular  sort  of  moral  atmosphere 
that  the  Doves  created,  but  that  was  the 
silent  feeling  we  had — that  there  was  gun 
powder  stored  under  the  decks,  so  to  speak. 

They  had  dismissed  Angelique,  but  she 
would  not  go,  for  her  wages  had  not  been 
paid,  and  they  did  not  dare  to  call  in  an 
officer.  They  dismissed  us  daily  with  cold 
forbidding  looks,  but  they'd  got  us  to  pay 
them  in  advance,  so  they  couldn't  eject  us. 
They  could  not,  for  all  their  trying,  get  any 
worse  things  to  put  on  the  table  than  we'd 
been  having  right  along — but  Candace  and  I 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

kept  our  regular  supplies  up  in  our  own 
rooms  now.  We  went  down  to  meals,  for 
we  did  not  want  to  hurt  their  feelings  where 
we  could  help  it.  We'd  honestly  have  been 
glad  to  save  them  from  themselves  if  we  could. 

"  Lysander,"  said  my  wife,  "  I  never  break 
an  egg  down  in  that  dining-room.  I 
wouldn't  be  so  mean.  But  I  think  when  it 
comes  to  putting  eggs  on  the  plate  before 
one,  that  fairly  smell  through  the  shell, 
folks  must  have  lost  their  self-respect. 
Blueing  says  that's  the  kind  of  eggs  that's 
sent  in  for  Angelique  to  cook,  and  what  can 
Angelique  do  ?" 

"  1  don't  blame  Angelique  a  mite  for  using 
strong  tobacco,"  said  I. 

Candace  laughed,  as  she  could  afford  to 
do,  for  we  were  well  provisioned. 
1 60 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

"Blueing  is  going  lo  be  married,"  said 
she;  "and  she  isn't  going  to  wait  until  her 
wages  are  paid,  either.  She  told  me  about 
it  this  morning.  She  said  the  Doves  would 
'sit  up  in  their  chairs  mighty  sudden'  one 
of  these  days  when  they  found  her  gone. 
And  what  do  you  think,  Lysander?  she 
said  the  Doves  told  her  to  make  up  our  beds 
last,  or  not  at  all,  just  as  she  liked; — but  she 
comes  in  here  first  of  all  and  spreads  fifteen 
minutes'  work  over  an  hour,  every  day  of 
her  life." 

"Well,  it's  nice  to  have  folks  like  to  be 
with  us." 

"  Yes,"  said  Candace.  The  calls  we'd  had 
since  we'd  started  our  general  housekeeping 
and  victualing  department  up-stairs  had 

cheered  my  wife  wonderfully. 
161 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

Miss  Lacey,  whom  the  Doves  had  given  a 
little  hall  bedroom  with  only  one  window 
light,  became  a  sort  of  sister  to  us  in  the  fre 
quency  of  her  visits,  and  it  did  us  good  to 
see  the  poor  starved  little  woman  tuck  down 
the  wholesome  victuals.  At  the  beginning, 
the  good-natured  Miss  Dove  had  dropped  in 
once  or  twice,  and  when  we  offered  her  a 
little  treat  she'd  accepted  right  pleased  and 
made  the  most  of  the  opportunity,  not  seem 
ing  one  mite  offended.  But  now  at  the  in 
stigation  of  the  stern  Miss  Dove  and  the 
other  sister — who  kept  close  in  her  room 
painting  some  oil  portraits  of  their  great- 
great-grandparents — she  turned  against  us 
too  and  was  almost  the  worst  of  the  lot,  in 
forming  the  others  that  we  kept  food  in  our 
room,  so  that  they  were  all  on  the  watch  to 
162 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

entrap  Miss  Lacey  and  the  girls  when  they 
came  in  to  see  us. 

For  all  the  three  pupils  were  well  ac 
quainted  with  us  now,  and  ran  in  whenever 
they  could  get  a  chance. 

In  our  front  room — Candace's  room— there 
was  a  clothes  closet  as  big  in  itself  as  a  small 
room.  Lately,  Candace  had  put  a  chair  in 
there.  So  that,  when  one  of  the  Miss  Doves 
—thinking  she'd  find  some  one  eating  with 
us — came  and  knocked  sharply,  if  we  had  a 
guest,  she  had  plenty  of  time  to  get  into  the 
closet  and  sit  down  comfortably  and  let  us 
lock  her  in,  before  either  Candace  or  I  went 
to  open  the  door.  For  we  kept  our  doors 
locked,  now,  so  that  the  Doves  could  not 
open  on  us  without  ceremony. 

Then      Miss     Dove     would     say     with- 
163 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

out  any  greeting  whatever,  only  a  hard 
look, 

"I  thought  I  detected  the  odor  of  burning 
food  in  the  hall.  Can  you  account  for  it, 
Mrs.  Morse  ?  " 

And  Candace,  who  was  only  sorry  for 
them  after  all,  would  say  sadly, 

"Even  if  I  were  cooking  food, — which  I 
am  not, — I  should  not  allow  it  to  burn,  Miss 
Dove." 

Which  was  very  true;  we  bought  our 
meats,  etc.,  all  cooked.  And  all  the  while, 
the  key  to  the  closet — with  a  tag  on  it  that 
the  Miss  Doves  had  put  on  for  their  own  use 
before  we  came,  "Key  to  closet  of  Ball 
Dresses,"  would  be  lying  safe  in  the  bottom 
of  Candace's  pocket — while  instead  of  ball 

dresses   inside  the  closet,  now,  there  were 
164 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

stores  of  nice  provisions,  and,  just  as  like  as 
not,  either  Miss  Lacey  or  one  of  the  girls  sit 
ting  musing  contentedly  there  in  the  chair, 
waiting  for  Miss  Dove  to  go. 

Then  when  Miss  Dove  did  turn,  shutting 
our  door  to  with  a  bang,  and  go  off  to  see 
if  the  one  she  suspected  was  in  her  own 
proper  room,  that  one  would  have  time  to 
get  out  into  the  halls  or  parlors,  or  any  inno 
cent  place,  and  be  moving  about  on  her  own 
business  with  nothing  to  confess. 

It  was  sort  of  child's  play,  to  be  sure,  but 
we're  all  "children  of  a  larger  growth,"  and 
it  was  dreadfully  exciting.  We  were  really 
helping  the  Doves,  through  it  all,  we  felt 
that;  for  Miss  Lacey  told  us  she  should  have 
had  to  leave  them  if  it  had  not  been  for  us, 
and  the  two  pupils  from  the  West  declared 
'65 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

they'd  have  run  away  if  it  had  not  been  for 
us. 

Small  wonder  that  Cleopatra,  being  what 
she  was,  was  carrying  on  like  a  flighty 
goose.  When  we  had  her  by  herself,  on 
one  occasion,  we  told  her  just  what  we'd  as 
certained  about  Count  Bonati  and  his  family, 
thinking  she  would  flame  up,  feel  bad,  have 
a  good  cry,  and  that  would  be  the  end  of  it. 
She  did  flame  up,  but  then  her  eyes  lighted 
and  lifted  in  a  way  that  betokened  no  hope 
for  our  warnings. 

"Shall  I  be  untrue  to  him  because  he  is 
poor  ?"  she  cried,  clasping  her  hands  together 
just  as  she'd  seen  people  do  on  the  stage. 
"No!  No!" 

"It  isn't  that,"  said  Candace;  "  but  he's  a 
liar — an  awful  one.  You  don't  want  to  get 
166 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

yourself  involved  with  a  dirty  liar,  do 
you  ?  " 

That  was  just  the  touch  that  wounded; 
for  Count  Bonati,  in  spite  of  all  his  furs  and 
airs,  somehow  gave  you  the  impression  that 
he'd  never  got  into  any  intimate  affections 
with  the  bath-tub.  Cleopatra  herself  was  as 
fastidious  and  dainty  as  a  girl  could  be. 
Nothing  counted,  though,  alongside  the  over 
powering  nature  of  her  sentiment  and  her 
longing  to  get  away  from  the  Doves'  estab 
lishment.  She  went  a  little  pale  at  what 
Candace  said  and  her  eyes  glinted,  meaning, 
more  than  ever,  it  seemed  to  me,  that  she 
was  going  to  have  her  own  way. 

"You  ought  to  write  to  your  good  kind 
father  and  get  his  advice,"  said  I,  soothingly. 

"  I  wrote  papa  when  I  first  came  here,  how 
167 


things  were,  and  begged  him  to  come  and 
take  me  away  or  tell  me  I  might  come  home, 
and  he  wrote  back,  it  must  be  a  nice  place 
up  in  this  quarter  of  the  city;  that  girls  in  a 
boarding-school  were  always  finding  fault, 
that  he'd  paid  for  me  a  half  year  in  advance, 
and  I  must  make  up  my  mind  to  stay." 

"Just  ask  him  to  come  on  and  see  ye  and 
have  a  Sunday  dinner  with  ye, — that's  the 
worst  of  all.  That  would  settle  him." 

"  He  has  been  to  see  me,  but  then  they  go 
out  and  buy  things  to  eat  and  have  every 
thing  swell,  and  pet  me  and  make  eyes  at  him, 
and  then  he  says  I'm  silly  to  be  complaining 
at  such  treatment  as  that.  Oh,  I  hate  them!  " 

"Well,  don't  injure  yourself,  lassie,  just 
to  spite  them.  Try  to  be  patient  and  we'll 

see  through  the  clouds."     For  Cleopatra  was 
1 68 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

one  of  those  well  grown  girls — a  girl  in  a 
royal  young  woman's  form— who,  if  she'd 
only  had  sense  given  her,  or  could  acquire 
it,  would  win  hearts  worthy  of  her  and  prevail 
majestically.  Always,  it  seems,  there  has  to 
be  something  lacking,  and  she,  with  her 
dark  brave  eyes  and  beautiful  presence,  and 
the  bewitching  clothes  she  wore,  had  not, 
up  to  date,  sense  enough  to  compete  with  a 
well  trained  two-year-old  on  any  track. 

My  wife,  in  spite  of  her  direct  plain  speech 
to  her,  seemed  to  fascinate  the  girl.  She 
was  always  laying  her  head  on  Candace's 
shoulder  or  taking  her  hand  to  hold;  and  it 
made  my  heart  ache  to  see  the  look  that 
would  come  into  Candace's  eyes,  and  how 
gentle  she  was  with  her,  withal — for  I  knew 

she  was  thinking  of  our  Ruth. 
169 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

The  girl  brought  Candace  her  clothes  to 
mend,  my  wife's  request.  They  were  very 
handsome  clothes,  but  the  girl  would  let 
them  go  with  any  number  of  rents  and 
rips  rather  than  mend  them  herself,  and 
Candace  was  strangely  happy  at  the  work. 
She  used  to  sit  there  and  sew  with  just  such 
a  look  as  I  remembered  on  her  face  when  our 
little  ones  were  coming  to  us. 

The  western  girls  brought  in  their  clothes, 
too;  and,  for  one  thing,  I've  seen  Candace 
sitting  there  with  as  many  as  twenty  pairs  of 
stockings  to  darn,  at  her  elbow,  looking  so 
blessed  and  happy  I  couldn't  begrudge  her 
the  task. 

No  question  but  that  they  found  the  victual 
closet  attractive  too.  Especially  Cleopatra 

had  an  appetite  corresponding  to  her  size, 
170 


HOSPITALITY  ESTABLISHED 

vigor,  and  temperament.  It  was  no  small 
item  in  our  system  of  supplies.  She  was 
better  acquainted  than  any  of  the  rest,  per 
haps,  with  the  smug  little  chair  in  the  food 
closet,  and  she  was  the  one  the  Doves  were 
after  most  of  all,  to  prevent  her  from  resort 
ing  to  us — not  seeming  to  realize  that  we 
were  all  that  warmed  their  house  and  kept  it 
together,  that  we  only  wanted  to  take  them 
in,  too,  and  that,  as  far  as  Cleopatra  was 
concerned,  we  were  anxiously  on  the  guard 
to  keep  her  from  disgracing  herself  and 
them. 

One  evening,  we  knew  we  were  going  to 
be  safe  from  surveillance,  for  the  Doves  had 
been  talking  at  their  table  about  going  to 
some  very  high-toned  place  of  entertain 
ment,  and  it  was  so  much  on  their  minds, 
171 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

with  their  dressing  and  all,  that  they  never 
gave  a  thought  to  us. 

They  had  a  cab  call  for  them  and  entered 
it  in  evening  gowns,  one  after  the  other.  It 
wasn't  two  minutes  after  the  cab  door  closed 
before  that  whole  household  was  in  with 
Candace  and  me.  We  brought  the  entertain 
ment  out  of  the  closet,  and  all  drew  up  our 
chairs  together  and  talked  and  feasted  mer 
rily.  It  was  a  homelike  scene,  and  all  the 
weight  seemed  lifted  from  the  atmosphere. 

At  ten  o'clock  our  guests  thought  it  safest 
to  disperse,  however,  and  go  to  their  rooms. 
Candace  and  I  undressed,  put  out  our  lights 
and  went  to  bed. 

It  was  near  midnight — I  was  sound  asleep 
— when  it  began  to  be  impressed  upon  me, 

as  a  dream  at  first,  that  the  door-bell  of  the 

172 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

house  was  ringing  violently  and  persistently. 
I  awakened  and  found  that  it  was  even  so — 
it  was  ringing  sharp  and  long. 

I  stole  through  Candace's  room — she  was 
fast  asleep — and  stuck  my  head  out  of  the 
window  to  see  if  I  could  discover  who  was 
on  the  porch.  There  were  the  three  Miss 
Doves,  shivering  and  stamping  their  feet, 
and  talking  loudly,  their  patience  being  all 
worn  out. 

"  Look  in  your  pocket  again,  Lucille.  Are 
you  sure  you've  lost  the  latch-key  ?  How 
could  you  do  it!  " 

"There's  a  little  rent  in  my  pocket." 

"  There  always  is!  I'll  carry  it  myself,  an 
other  time.  Where /sBlueinetta!  The  stupid 
nigger!  I  told  her  to  sit  up  anyway,  to 
night,  until  eleven." 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

"  We  were  here  at  that  time.  We've  been 
standing  here  an  hour!  It's  unbearable.  I 
wish  I  could  get  at  some  of  them,  inside — 
I'd  make  them  capable  of  hearing  !  " 

"  The  Morses  up  in  front  must  have  heard 
us.  Their  window  is  open  " — I  dodged  be 
hind  the  curtain,  for  now  they  all  looked  up, 
and  I  had  only  my  night-gown  on.  "They're 
keeping  us  out  on  purpose!  The  brutes!  " 

Candace  had  awakened  by  this  time.  I 
held  up  my  hand  to  her.  "Hush!"  I  whis 
pered.  "It's  nothing.  Don't  be  afraid." 
But  she  crept  out  of  bed  and  came  over  and 
stood  by  my  side,  where  I  was  sort  of  trans 
fixed  at  hearing  those  women  talk. 

The  bell  gave  another  long  vicious  ring  and 
we  heard  Miss  Lacey,  aroused  by  this  time, 
knocking  timidly  at  Candace's  door  and  talk- 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

ing  a  whole  book  full  of  conjectures  and  sup 
positions.  We  did  not  heed  her,  we  were 
so  transfixed  by  the  window. 

The  bell  went  again  and  again. 

"That  old  hayseed  and  his  stupid  old  Sa- 
manthy " — one  of  them  almost  shouted— 
"  I'd  like  to  wring  their  necks!  " 

"  That  means  us,"  said  Candace  very  com 
posedly. 

"Yes,"  said  I.  It  had  not  been  five  min 
utes  since  I  first  heard  the  bell,  and  every  in 
tention  of  my  soul  was  to  run  and  put  on 
my  clothes  and  let  the  Dove  sisters  in,  if 
their  talk  had  not  transfixed  me. 

"  I  wish  I  had  a  rock  to  throw  into  the  im 
beciles'  window,"  said  one  of  them.  "A 
call  of  that  sort  on  the  pate  might  let  some 
gleam  of  intelligence  into  them.  I  can  hear 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

the  old  hay-ricks  snoring.  Oh,  this  is  too 
exasperating! " 

"Go  back  to  bed,  Lysander,"  commanded 
my  wife  firmly,  "  and  1  will  do  the  same." 

" Cannot  account,"  went  on  Miss 

Lacey's  voice  in  the  hall  outside  our  door — 
"for  the  almost  unceasing  ringing  of  the 
door-bell  at  this  hour  of  the  night.  Sorry 
to  find  it  necessary  to  make  the  attempt  to 
awaken  you,  dear  Mrs.  Morse,  but  it  has 
occurred  to  me  as  a  possible  contingency 
the  Doves  may  have  forgotten  to  take,  or 
have  lost,  their  latch-key,  and  Blueinetta  is 
evidently  either  not  in  or  is  not  awakened 
by  the  peremptory  and  almost  ceaseless 
ringing  of  the " 

As    the    sound   of   Miss   Lacey's   familiar 

monotone  still  continued,  both  Candace  and 
176 


HOSPITALITY   ESTABLISHED 

I  came  to  our  senses  in  a  way,  and  Candace 
said  nothing  to  dissuade  me  when  I  began 
dressing. 

I  went  down  and  opened  the  door,  ex 
pecting  no  thanks — expecting  almost  an 
attack, — and  I  got  it,  in  words. 

"Where  is  Blueinetta  ? "  demanded  the 
stern  Miss  Dove  of  me  first  thing,  as  I  let 
them  in  out  of  the  cold. 

"Miss  Dove,"  said  I,  rather  severely,  "I 
haven't  seen  your  handmaiden  since  she 
waited  on  table  at  dinner." 

So  they  all  piled  up  to  the  attic  to  find 
Blueing,  and  they  were  mad.  We  heard 
them  rummaging,  and  then  coming  down 
the  stairs  with  low  murmurs. 

It  seems   Blueing  had  taken  that  night  to 

go  off  and  get  married.     She  had  taken  her 
177 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

own  clothes,  and,  as  they  discovered  after 
wards,  some  of  the  Miss  Doves'  too,  in  lieu 
of  wages,  I  suppose.  Anyway,  they  never 
heard  from  her  or  got  track  of  her  again. 

For  several  weeks  Candace  had  missed 
some  of  her  laces,  which  we  knew  by 
thorough  search  were  not  in  either  of  our 
rooms.  We'd  said  nothing  and  accused  no 
one:  but  the  morning  after  Blueing's  depar 
ture,  Candace  found  a  pathetic  soiled  little 
paper  parcel  all  done  up  and  placed  con 
spicuously  in  one  of  her  bureau  drawers. 
She  unfolded  it,  and  there  were  her  missing 
laces.  No  word,  no  explanation;  but  it 
spoke  for  itself,  and  the  tears  came  to  our 
eyes.  That  was  Blueing's  apology,  love- 
token,  and  good-bye.  She  wouldn't  steal 

from  Candace — she  couldn't,   after  all;   and 
178 


HOSPITALITY  ESTABLISHED 

Candace  treasured  those  laces  afterwards  far 
beyond  any  other  finery,  because  they  spoke 
to  her  always  of  poor  Blueing's  atonement. 


X 

A   WARM    BRIDGE    AND    A    COLD    DRAWING-ROOM 

THE  house  seemed  more  undermined  than 
ever  after  poor  Blueing  went  away.  We 
did  our  own  room-work  of  course,  and 
then — it  being  a  specially  pleasant  spell  of 
weather — we  went  sight-seeing. 

We  found  the  Senate  adjourned  again; 
and  started  for  Arlington  to  see  the  soldiers' 
graves.  But  we  did  not  get  beyond  Long 
Bridge. 

The  bridge  simply  fascinated  us.  It  was 
a  panorama;  and  after  all,  we  liked  things, 
like  that,  that  were  out-of-doors,  the  best. 

The  humanity  that  passed  over  it  were, 

almost  all,  people  who  strike  false  notes — 

180 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

people  getting  back  into  the  country  with 
their  dilapidated  market  wagons,  and  what 
truck  they  had  not  sold — poor  men,  women 
and  children,  white  and  black,  trudging  over 
the  shaky  old  structure,  with  the  muddy 
Potomac  underneath  and  the  blue  sky  and 
hills  stretching  above  and  beyond. 

It  was  like  our  spring,  and  we  lingered 
around  there,  getting  acquainted  with  lots 
of  folks,  hearing  their  troubles  and  lending 
a  hand  wherever  we  could. 

In  fact,  we  made  a  sort  of  home  of  the 
bridge.  We  did  not  dare  tell  each  other, 
even,  how  much  we  liked  it.  When  we  got 
tired,  we'd  get  into  the  antediluvian-looking 
stage  that  travelled  back  and  forth  across  it; 
and,  after  a  little,  we  began  to  make  up  par 
ties  of  folks  that  couldn't  afford  the  fare, — 
181 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

old  folks,  and  lame,  and  women  weighted 
down  with  children  and  bundles.  They  all 
seemed  to  trust  us.  We  told  them  we'd  got 
more  tickets  than  we  could  use,  and  bundled 
them  in; — it  was  quite  a  long  trip  especially 
if  you're  going  with  crutches  or  a  cane,  or  a 
baby  on  your  arm. 

Then  when  we'd  all  got  inside,  we'd  con 
verse  and  often  get  to  laughing;  for  these 
people  who  strike  false  notes  seem  glad 
to  take  a  bit  of  sympathy  from  any 
body — no  matter  whom — and  don't  mind 
putting  their  own  troubles  far  away  from 
them  when  they're  helping  the  crowd  to 
smile. 

It  was  not  exactly  the  sort  of  mirth  and 
gaiety  Candace  had  come  to  Washington  to 

find,  but  I  could  see  that  my  wife's  face  was 
182 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

growing  quieter  and  more  content  every  day. 
She  used  to  have  a  good  deal  of  fear  of  false 
notes  herself,  but  now  she  didn't  care  how 
many  she  struck,  so  that  she  could  make  a 
few  furlongs,  anyway,  of  somebody's  life  the 
easier  and  brighter. 

"Let's  not  go  back  to  the  house  for 
luncheon,"  said  she;  "  let's  get  some  victuals 
-  and  give  them  to  those  starved  looking  young 
ones." 

For  there  were  two  or  three  colored 
women  loitering  around  over  the  bridge  with 
the  thinnest,  sickliest-looking  children  I  ever 
saw.  There  wasn't  any  restaurant  near;  but 
there  was  a  bake-shop,  where  they  were 
just  out  of  rolls  but  had  plenty  of  cream 
puffs.  So  I  got  two  dozen  in  a  paper  bag 
and  came  down  to  where  Candace  stood 
'83 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

keeping  her  eye  on  that  thin-looking  set. 
She  did  not  appear  to  notice  them,  however, 
and  we  were  as  polite  to  their  feelings  as  if 
we'd  been  in  a  state  dining-room. 

"What  in  the  world,  Lysander," — said  my 
wife,  putting  on  as  if  she  was  cross  with 
me,— "did  you  get  so  many  for?  We'll 
have  to  throw  them  in  the  water  " — said  she 
— "  unless  " — and  then  she  caught  the  eye  of 
that  set  looking  up  at  us  and  the  big  paper 
bag  with  their  mouths  open — "unless,"  said 
Candace,  "  some  of  these  little  folks  will 
help  us  out  with  them.  When  I  was  that 
age,  I  was  always  hungry." 

Well,  the  way  those  cream  puffs  went, — 
not  only  the  children,  but  the  mothers  took 
hold,  and  an  old  man  with  long  white  hair 

and  his  legs  shivering,  he  was  so  thinly  clad — 
184 


WELL,    THE    WAY    THOSE    CREAM    I'UFKS    WENT. 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

he  stopped  and  got  assimilated  with  us, — 
and  one  after  another — all  looking  as  though 
they  had  the  right  credentials  sure  enough 
for  joining  the  party.  I  made  another  trip  to 
the  bake-shop,  speculating  in  more  puffs,  and 
all  the  mince  pies  they  had  this  time;  and 
after  all  it  was  just  as  well  perhaps  that  only 
fancy  goods  were  procurable  that  day,  for 
cream  puffs  and  mince  pies  tasted  just  as  well 
to  that  set,  I  reckon,  as  plain  rolls. 

We  had  a  regular  soiree  all  together, 
grouped  up  along  the  railings  of  the  old 
bridge. 

A  mulatto  girl  came  along  towards  us  cry 
ing.  A  little  breeze  had  taken  the  feather 
out  of  her  hat  and  blown  it  over  into  the 
water;  all  the  same,  that  girl  was  heart 
broken. 

185 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"  Nev'  yo'  min',  Minnie,"  said  an  older 
woman  at  her  side;  "  'twas  jes'  an  old  loose- 
tooth  rheumatiz  fedda,  anyway.  Yo'  git 
one  o'  dese  yere  fass'nators  like  I  wear." 
The  woman  had  a  kind  of  dirty  worsted 
thing  tied  around  her  head.  We'd  seen  a 
lot  of  the  same  kind  crossing  the  bridge. 

"  I  don't  want  no  fassinator,"  moaned  the 
girl,  through  her  sobs.  "  I  want  my  fedda." 

Foolish  or  wise,  grief  is  all  the  same,  when 
your  heart  breaks  like  that.  "  Look  here, 
little  girl, "said  Candace — and  I  stood  amazed 
myself,  but  Candace  did  it!  She  took  off 
her  bonnet  and  ordered  out  my  jack-knife, 
and  off  came  her  new  five-dollar  feather; 
and  she  handed  it  to  that  girl.  "I've  got 
trimming  enough  at  home,"  said  Candace,  and 

put  on  her  bare  velvet  bonnet  with  decision. 
186 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

Nobody  would  have  cared  for  a  feather 
who  could  have  seen  that  girl's  face. 

"  Yo'  foolin'  me!"  she  said  when  she 
could  speak.  But  there  was  an  awesome 
sense  that  it  might  be  true  in  the  joy  and 
wonderment  of  her  face. 

"I  don't  fool  people,"  said  Candace,  aus 
terely;  then  she  patted  her  gently  on  the 
shoulder,  and  the  delighted  creature  passed 
on  out  of  sight.  I've  never  forgotten  the 
way  that  girl  looked  though.  I  believe  Can- 
dace  will  see  that  same  look  on  that  same 
face,  on  some  other  day  of  wonder. 

Of  course  Candace  and  I  ate  with  our 
guests.  Cream  puffs,  when  you  haven't  any 
plates  or  napkins  are  sort  of  clinging,  affec 
tionate  things  to  handle.  We  certainly  had 

a  bedaubed   mess   of  hands   and   faces,   all 

187 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

'round,  with  here  and  there  some  spikes  of 
pie-crust  adhering  to  the  cleft  of  a  chin  or 
the  tip  of  a  nose.  Occasionally,  a  nice  car 
riage  or  cab  crossed  the  bridge, — and,  all  of  a 
sudden,  I  was  sure  that  I  saw  the  Miss  Doves 
looking  out  at  us  from  a  cab  with  cold  un- 
recognizing  eyes.  I  remembered  in  a  flash 
how  we'd  heard  them  talking  about  taking 
an  acquaintance  over  to  see  Arlington  some 
day  soon. 

I  was  right  in  the  middle  of  a  puff,  with 
two  or  three  little  colored  children  leaning  up 
against  each  of  my  legs  for  support,  and 
hadn't  even  time  to  get  out  my  handkerchief 
to  wipe  the  cream  off  of  my  face.  So  I 
simply  gazed,  sure  it  was  they,  and  called 
Candace's  attention. 

"Well,  what  if  it  is!"  said  she  indiffer- 
188 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

ently.  The  fact  is  we  were  so  deep  in  false 
notes,  we  didn't  care. 

That  night,  though,  in  our  rooms,  after 
Candace  had  fixed  up  her  bonnet  again  with 
some  bows  and  lace,  she  held  it  off,  eyeing 
it,  and  said  she, 

"  Lysander,  seems  as  though  we  ought  to 
go  to  one  real  stylish  function." 

"  How  can  we  ?  "  said  I.  "  We  haven't  as 
sociated  with  anything  but  what's  called  the 
ragtag  and  bobtail  of  creation,  since  we  came 
here.  We're  respectable  folks,  I  know — and 
fine  family — but  how  are  we  going  to  alter 
our  course  now  ? ' 

"I  don't  want  to  alter  it,"  said  Candace 
proudly  ;  "  but  I  wouldn  t  mind  mixing  in 
with  the  cream  here  once  in  a  way.  I'd 

like   to    go    to    the    President's   New   Year 
189 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

reception  to-morrow!  It's  free  to  all,"  she 
added. 

"Yes,  said  I,  "I  know  it's  free  to  all. 
Well,  let's  go." 

Candace  did  not  often  do  up  her  hair  to 
wave,  nowadays,  but  that  night  she  put  it  up 
in  crimping  pins;  and  next  morning,  I  was 
rather  scandalized  to  see  the  time  my  wife 
spent  before  the  mirror.  She  put  on  her 
black  silk,  her  best  laces,  and  white  gloves. 

"You'll  have  to  hurry,"  said  I,  "or  we 
shall  be  late." 

"No,  Lysander,"  said  she  calmly;  "we 
don't  come  in,  anyway,  until  after  the  for 
eign  legations  and  the  army  and  navy." 

We  went  down  to  where  the  White  House 
Was  in  view,  and  an  officer  told  us  we'd  have 
to  find  our  place  at  the  end  of  the  procession 
190 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

that  was  waiting  to  be  admitted  to  the 
grounds.  The  aspect  of  things  wilted  Can- 
dace  some;  still  she  was  going  to  the  White 
House  to  shake  hands  with  the  President, 
so  we  trudged  around,  a  good  long  walk 
away  from  everything  to  take  our  proper 
places  at  the  end  of  the  line  standing  two 
abreast. 

"  I  guess  my  plain  clothes  would  have 
done  just  as  well,"  said  Candace  a  little  rue 
fully,  holding  up  the  trail  of  her  silk  gown; 
for  by  all  the  indications  we'd  got  in  with 
our  usual  sort  of  crowd. 

We  were  very  sure  of  it,  when  almost  as 
soon  as  we'd  got  in  line,  the  couple  ahead  of 
us  turned  around  with  beaming  faces  that 
disclosed  Angelique  and  her  husband.  The 

old   man  had   left  his  express  wagon   and 
191 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

white  apron  at  home,  and  Angelique  had  on 
a  cotton  mourning  veil  that  almost  com 
pletely  enveloped  her,  so  we  had  not  recog 
nized  them  from  their  backs  at  the  first  in 
stant.  They  carried  themselves  haughtily, 
besides;  far  more  so  than  any  of  the  white 
people  in  their  vicinity,  so  that  we  began  to 
feel  we  ought  to  be  proud  to  have  such 
friends  and  be  patronized  by  them. 

"  How  shall  we  know  the  President  when 
we  get  inside,  Angelique?"  said  my  wife, 
deferentially;  for  Angelique's  head  in  its 
mourning  bonnet  was  tilted  back  at  an  angle 
that  we  couldn't  think  of  as  anything  but 
queenly. 

"  Don't  yo' fret,  honey,"  replied  Angelique; 
"yo'  jes'  watch  me,  an'  whar'  yo'  see  me 
-;urchy,  yo'  come  along  an'  curchy,  arter  me. 
192 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

Yof  be  all  right — jes'  keep  yo'  eyes  on 
me." 

We  could  not  do  much  else,  perforce,  for 
Angelique  was  very  broad  and  her  veil 
voluminous,  and  the  procession  packed  us  up 
closer  and  closer  to  her  as  the  tail  of  the  line 
kept  extending.  Candace's  good  heart  went 
heavy  at  the  sight  of  so  much  mourning 
goods,  and  presently  I  heard  her  whisper  to 
Angelique, 

"My  dear  friend,  have  you  lost  a  child 
recently  ?  " 

"No,  honey,  I  ain't,"  said  Angelique,  turn 
ing  a  society-like  condescending  face  to  us 
again.  "  My  chillun's  all  married  an'  gone, 
de  Lawd  knows  whar'." 

"Are  you  in  mourning  for  a  sister  or  a 
brother?"  asked  Candace  softly. 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

"No,  dat  I  ain't,"  declared  Angelique 
boldly,  with  high  good  cheer.  "I  mo'nin' 
fo'  de  sins  o'  dis  yer  rotten  world,  ef  yc' 
want  to  know  what  I  mo'nin'  fo'.  I  mo'nin' 
'cause  I  cayn't  git  mah  dues  outer  dem  mis'ra- 
ble  white  trash  I  wukkin'  fo'.  I  mo'nin'  for 
dis,  dat,  and  de  othah" — she  continued  ju 
bilantly,  giving  her  veil  a  toss, — "dat's 
what  I's  mo'nin'  fo'." 

A  good  many  people  were  turning  to  look 
at  our  group  by  this  time,  and  listening,  de 
lighted,  with  all  their  ears — so  Candace  sub 
sided,  and  we  watched  some  parties  ahead 
of  us  who  were  in  a  discussion  with  a  mar 
tial-looking  white  woman  as  to  whether  a 
man  in  glorious  uniform  who  had  just  passed 
down  the  street  was  a  general. 

"I  know  he   was   not, "  said   the  martial 
194 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

woman  finally.  "I  know  because  I'm  in  the 
army  myself." 

They  were  young  girls  whom  she'd  had 
the  contention  with  and  after  that,  they  gig 
gled  among  themselves  about  "veterans" 
and  "pension  bureaus  "  and  other  disagree 
able  war  topics.  But  the  woman  stood  stout 
and  did  not  appear  to  heed  them,  though  her 
ears  burned. 

But  on  the  whole,  it  was  a  good-natured 
happy  crowd,  and  people  passing  us  on  the 
sidewalk  looked  along  the  line  with  fre 
quent  evidences  of  sympathy  and  amuse 
ment. 

Four  Japanese  young  men, — of  the  "qual 
ity  "  of  that  country  I  should  say,  dressed  in 
American  fashion, — came  along  together,  so 
natty  and  immaculate  they  were  pleasant  to 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

look  at,  with  their  slim  broadcloth  legs, 
faultless  boots  and  shiny  tall  hats.  Each  one 
had  a  rose  in  his  button-hole,  too.  For  per 
fection,  they  transcended  anything  I'd  ever 
looked  at  in  the  form  of  fashion. 

They  were  chatting  and  laughing  together 
in  such  good  spirits  they  were  sort  of  lark- 
ish,  and  when  they  saw  Angelique  with  her 
proud  looks  they  all  put  on  a  solemn  face  as 
quick  as  a  wink,  and  stopped  and  took  off 
their  hats  to  her  as  though  they  were  going 
to  bow  to  the  earth. 

In  the  first  flash,  we  thought  this  would 
only  elevate  her  more — but  it  seemed  she 
was  on  her  guard  against  ridicule,  and  made 
distinctions  as  to  the  sort  of  homage  she 
wanted;  for  on  the  instant,  with  a  terrible 

threat  of  vengeance,  she  darted  out  of  our 
196 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

ranks  and  after  those  fellows,  who  took  to 
their  heels. 

Angelique  was  very  fat,  and  was  ham 
pered  by  her  mourning  veil;  and  though  she 
made  a  determined  chase  and  was  cheered  by 
many  in  the  crowd,  yet  it  was  evident  from 
the  first  that  she  was  "not  in  it "  with  those 
lithe  young  foreigners.  She  came  back 
panting  with  her  bonnet  over  on  one  ear  and 
began  to  readjust  herself. 

"What's  the  matter  here?1"  said  a  police 
man,  coming  up. 

"Sho'  'nuff!"  said  Angelique,  unafraid, 
her  queenly  attitude  resumed.  "Dat's  what 
/  ask — what's  the  mattah,  when  'spectable 
folks  standin'  heah,  deep  dyed  in  de  mo'nin' 
o'  der  griefs,  has  derision  poked  at  'em  by  a 

lot  o'  low-down  idol-wusshipers.     Yes,  sah, 
197 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

dey  blow  deir  horn  as  dey  pass  by,  an*  shoot 
derision  at  me  'cause  I  ain't  got  but  one  eye." 

"Well,  keep  your  place,"  said  the  officer 
sympathetically,  "and  move  along  with  the 
crowd." 

For  we  had  begun  to  move  now;  packed 
up  in  line,  we  followed  the  side-walk,  turned 
into  the  gates  and  made  approach  to  the 
White  House. 

"Keep  yo'  eyes  on  me,"  Angelique  again 
commanded  us. 

We  passed  into  the  White  House,  with 
guards  hurrying  us,  each  side;  passed 
through  a  number  of  rooms — it  was  all  so 
quickly  done,  I  only  remember  seeing  An 
gelique  make  for  a  gaudy-looking  man  in 
white  and  red,  or  some  other  bright  color — 

I  remember  seeing  her  make  a  dive  for  him, 
198 


"  KEEP  YO'  EYES  ON  ME,"  ANGELI^UE  AGAIN  COMMANDED  US. 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

and  him  smiling  and  holding  back: — but  it 
wasn't  the  President  she'd  picked  out  for 
that  functionary;  it  was  only  a  lackey  or 
guard  dressed  up  in  livery. 

Candace  and  I  had  not  even  seen  the  Presi 
dent,  that  we  knew  of,  when  we  came  out; 
nor  shaken  hands  with  anybody,  and  An- 
gelique  was  raving. 

"  Did  yo'  see  him !  "  she  said — "  coil  hisself 
'way  fom  me!  Dat's  a  nice  pres'dunt!  arter 
I  took  all  dese  yer  pains  to  be  frien'ly  wid 
him, — ter  hy-spy  an'  coil  hisself  'way  fom 
me,  jes'  'cause  I  ain't  got  but  one  eye!  " 

We  convinced  her  finally  that  she'd  picked 
out  the  wrong  man,  and  then  she  soothed 
down  once  more. 

The  line  was  still  pouring  in  and  others 

attaching  themselves  to  its  tail.     It  seemed  to 
199 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

be  an  instantaneous  and  mutual  decision; 
anyway,  we  went  around  and  got  to  the  end 
of  the  tail  again.  "I  bet  yo',  I  cotches  de 
right  one  dis  time,"  said  Angelique  cheerfully 
again.  "Jes"  keep  yo'  eyes  on  me." 

We  did  not  though;  we  kept  a  keen  look 
out  for  the  sturdy  man  in  civilian's  clothes, 
and  had  a  quick  hand-shake  with  him,  though 
there  was  room  enough  for  distraction — for 
Angelique,  having  darted  for  another  gay  fel 
low  had  got  pushed  back  into  rank  and  file 
again  by  the  guard. 

This  time  she  would  not  believe  us  though 
we  tried  to  explain  it  to  her  again  when  we 
got  out  under  the  blue  vault  of  heaven. 

"I  know  dat  man  I  sprung  fo'  was  de 
pres'dunt,"  said  she.  "  Dey's  a  low-down 
gov'munt  at  de  presen'  time  in  dat  White 


A  WARM  BRIDGE 

House  now  standin'.  I  despise  'em  an'  I  spit 
at  'em." 

With  that  she  directed  an  effusive  illustra 
tion  of  her  words  towards  the  whole  execu 
tive  institution,  of  which  we  had  had  so 
fleeting  a  vision;  and  recovering  her  haughty 
demeanor,  she  set  out  towards  home. 

Candace  and  I  went  home  too.  I  brushed 
up  my  clothes  and  Candace  sponged  and 
mended  her  dress; — and  the  next  day  we 
went  back  to  the  Bridge  again. 


201 


XI 

THE  CATASTROPHE 

THERE  were  some  notes  going  up  and 
down,  from  window  to  court,  one  night 
presently.  The  wind  blowing  fitfully  out 
side,  and  I  standing  there  in  the  darkness,  I 
caught  one  of  them  as  it  was  wafted  to 
wards  me  and  speedily  detached  it  from  the 
string. 

A  dim  long  figure  was  searching  about, 
there  below,  for  a  good  hour  afterwards, 
trying  to  find  where  the  wind  had  blown 
that  note;  but  the  Count  never  found  it.  I 
closed  the  window  softly  and  went  to  the 
gaslight  to  read  it. 

"Prying  is  new  business  for  me,"  said  I 

202 


THE  CATASTROPHE 

to  Candace,  "but  I  believe,  just  this  once, 
the  Lord  will  forgive  me  for  my  eaves 
dropping." 

We  were  very  sure  of  it  when  we  read 
the  note.  There  was  not  much  time  to 
spare. 

In  the  morning  I  slicked  myself  up  to  the 
best  of  my  ability  and  let  myself  out  of  the 
house,  going  down  to  the  railroad  station  to 
take  the  first  train  for  Baltimore. 

I  expected  Cleopatra's  father — the  wine 
merchant — to  be  a  ruddy  coarse  kind  of 
man,  but  he  had  features  like  a  cameo,  with 
a  pale  girlish  complexion.  His  eyes  were 
poetical,  like  Cleopatra's,  and  when  I  saw 
him  I  was  more  glad  than  ever  that  I'd 
come.  I  sat  down  and  told  him  the  whole 
story. 

203 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

"She  ain't  a  mite  to  blame  '  I  told  him. 
"  She's  been  under  heedless,  selfish,  bad  in 
fluence.  I  know,  to  look  at  ye,  you'll  be 
kind  to  her." 

"  I'll  go  back  with  you  and  get  her,"  said 
he.  He  was  as  slick  as  those  civilized 
Japanese,  yet  he  did  not  seem  to  make  any 
account  of  looks.  He  had  me  precede  him 
everywhere,  and  bowed  whenever  he  opened 
a  door  for  me,  and  he  said,  "Sir "to  me, 
just  as  folks  used  to  do  in  my  young  days 
to  people  who  were  older  than  they  were. 

It  was  only  just  luncheon  time  when  we 
got  back  to  the  house,  in  Washington. 

"Now,"  said  I  to  Mr.  Carmoody,  "I  want 
you  to  pop  right  in  with  me  without  giving 
the  Doves  a  chance  to  make  extra  prepara 
tions,  and  see  what  kind  of  fare,  for  one 
204 


THE  CATASTROPHE 

thing,  has  been  driving  your  poor  girl  to 
desperatioit." 

Faith,  I  did  not  do  it  to  expose  or  humili 
ate  them; — it  helped  them,  in  the  end,  and  I 
felt  he  ought  to  see  and  know  some  things 
with  his  own  eyes. 

So  we  marched  into  the  dining-room,  and 
the  Doves  rose,  blushing,  but  profuse  in  all 
their  courtesies  and  make-shifts. 

But  Carmoody,  after  greeting  his  daughter, 
sat  down  at  the  table  with  Candace  and  me, 
and  looked  calmly  with  his  handsome  eyes 
at  a  plate  of  cold  sliced  corn  muffins  and  two 
little  pats  of  butter,  not  as  large  as  a  thimble 
— and  nothing  else.  Then  he  glanced  briefly 
to  where  his  daughter  sat,  and  seeing  only 
the  same  provisions  there,  he  kept  that  same 

calm  beautiful  face,  paying  attentions  all  the 
205 


while  to  Candace  at  the  table,  with  what  food 
there  was,  as  if  she  had  been  a  duchess. 

All  there  was  in  the  pantry  began  to  come 
on,  now,  but  it  was  not  much  at  the  best — 
and  he  understood. 

The  Doves  had  got  a  stylish  new  colored 
maid  (knowing  nevertheless  they  could 
never  pay  her  her  wages).  She  put  on  lots 
of  airs  and  seemed  to  aim  to  make  herself 
conspicuous  over  the  general  undercurrent  of 
excitement  in  the  atmosphere;  for,  as  far  as 
I've  seen,  that  race  are  apt  to  have  a  pre 
monition  of  anything  particularly  lively  im 
pending  and  enjoy  it  more  than  they  do 
meat  and  drink. 

She  whispered  ostentatiously,  though  low, 
to  Miss  Lacey  and  the  girls;  then  she  came 
and  whispered  to  us  three, 
206 


THE  CATASTROPHE 

"Angelique — she  tol'  me  to  warn  yo>  not 
to  eat  de  wine  jell'.  She  say,  she  put  soap 
in  dat  wine  jell'  'stead  o'  wine.  She  say  she 
gwine  to  persecute  dem  Doves  'cause,  long 
time  now,  dey  been  a-persecutin'  her." 

Carmoody's  face  did  not  change  from  its 
sweet  amiable  look. 

"  What  kind  of  soap  did  she  put  in  it  ?" 
he  murmured  back. 

"She  use  her  own  toilette-bokay,"  replied 
the  girl  with  a  flourish,  "'cause  she  say  it 
more  lather-y." 

Here,  the  door-bell  rang,  and  I  remembered 
that  this  was  the  hour  the  Doves'  creditors 
were  apt  to  come,  thinking  to  find  the  sisters 
in. 

Out  flounced  the   serving  maid — for  she 

had  not  had  time  to  get  canny  in  affairs,  like 
207 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

Blueing — and  back  she  came  to  the  dining- 
room  and  announced  flippantly  in  her  stylish 
way, 

"  De  gas  man  desire  au'jence  wid  you, 
Miss  Dove.  I  sot  him  in  de  parlor.  He  say 
he  wait." 

The  Doves  smiled — they  were  Spartan,  in  a 
way.  But  they  could  have  torn  her  limb 
from  limb, — not  to  mention  how  they  felt 
towards  me. 

I  felt  that  the  bell  would  peal  again,  and 
it  did.  The  Doves  squirmed.  The  new 
waitress  came  back  with  more  airs. 

"  From  de  cos-tu-rni-ers,  Miss  Dove.  I  sot 
him  in  de  parlor,  too.  De  cab-hire  man 
standin'  'longside  him  on  de  do'-step,  so  I 
conjur  him  to  come  in,  too.  Dey  say  dey 

wait." 

208 


THE  CATASTROPHE 

Once  more  the  tragedy  burst  upon  us 
through  that  maid's  airy  demeanor. 

"  De  man  fo'  his  rent,  Miss  Dove.  I  sot 
him  in  de  parlor.  He  say  he  wait." 

After  that  meal  my  wife  took  Cleopatra  to 
her  room  with  her,  and  Carmoody  and  I,  at 
the  Doves'  request,  went  with  them  into  the 
stately  parlors  where  those  men  were  wait 
ing  to  clamor  for  their  dues.  All  of  a  sud 
den  the  sisters  had  turned  to  us  as  friends. 
They  were  speechless  and  trembling. 

Carmoody  kept  his  calm  face.  "  Have 
you  anything  to  pay  these,  and,  probably, 
other  bills  ?  "  he  asked  them. 

They  shook  their  heads. 

"  Then  you  must  vacate  at  once,''  he  said, 
in  his  pleasant  even  voice, — "and  not  let 

this  thing  run  on  any  worse  or  any  longer. 
209 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

Have  you  any  furniture  wherewith  to  make 
partial  compensation  for  your  debts  ?  " 

"  No,"  they  said.  That  too  was  hired  and 
the  rent  unpaid. 

"  By  to-morrow  morning,"  said  Carmoody, 
"  you  must  leave  this  place." 

There  was  thunder  on  the  faces  of  those 
men,  but  they  were  helpless,  they  had 
been  done  for;  there  was  no  property  to 
attach. 

"We  will  announce  our  failure,"  said  the 
trembling  Miss  Doves.  "All  that  we  have 
is  at  the  mercy  of  our  creditors." 

With  that  the  suitors  had  to  depart.  But 
as  it  turned  out  the  Doves  had  not  any 
thing,  not  a  mite  of  a  foothold  anywhere,  no 
home,  no  friends  who  would  take  them  in, 
no  place  where  to  go. 


THE  CATASTROPHE 

They  were  weeping,  now,  and  Carmoody 
and  I  knew  it  was  only  too  true. 

"If  ye'll  hear  to  me  now,"  I  said,  more 
gently  and  respectfully  than  I'd  ever  spoken 
to  them  before  in  my  life, — "  I've  got  a  little 
plan." 

Carmoody  turned  his  bright  eyes  to  me, 
watching  me  quietly. 

"  Over  at  our  place  in  New  Hampshire,"  I 
went  on,  making  up  my  mind  as  I  went 
along,  "there's  a  little  house  rny  father  and 
mother  used  to  live  in.  I've  always  kept  it 
up  and  in  good  repair — because,  somehow,  I 
couldn't  do  otherwise.  It's  near  enough  to 
our  house  so  nobody  would  be  lonely  there. 
We've  got  furniture  enough,  more  than  we 
use,  so  that  we  could  fit  it  up  real  cozy  and 
snug,  and  give  land  enough  around  it  so  that 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

any  one,  so  disposed,  could  make  a  tidy 
living  there." 

Carmoody  never  took  his  eyes  off  of  me. 
They  were  wonderful  serious  eyes,  and  his 
voice  ran  earnest  and  fast. 

"I  wish  my  girl  had  the  chance — to  get 
out  of  this  modern  life,  of  false  estimates  and 
mean  deceit — to  get  out  there  with  you  and 
Mrs.  Morse  for  a  year's  training.  Then  I'd 
take  her  back  again.  I'd  give  more  for  it 
than  for  all  the  schools  — 

The  Doves  reddened,  and  he  drew  his 
white  hand  across  his  mouth  and  stopped 
speaking. 

"  A  tidy  living,"  I  went  on.  "  We  would 
tide  you  over  with  provisions,  of  course, 
until  spring  comes,  when  ye  could  get  to 
work  on  your  garden  and  chicken-raising 

212 


THE  CATASTROPHE 

and  so  forth.  Ye  could  get  some  sewing  to 
do,  too — the  folks  out  there  are  real  neigh 
borly,  and  with  no  sneers  on  their  faces, 
neither." 

"  Good,"  said  Carmoody,  looking  from  me 
to  them. 

"  We'll  take  ye  right  along  home  with  us," 
said  I,  "  and  in  three  days  we  can  have  that 
little  house  all  fit  for  ye  to  dwell  in." 

;(Good,"  said  Carmoody  again;  but  they 
did  not  speak. 

"  If  the  Misses  Dove  decline  your  offer,  I 
shall  accept  it!  "  said  Carmoody. 

"That  is  well  enough  for  you  to  say,"  said 
the  stern  Miss  Dove  to  him,  then,  with  some 
thing  of  her  old  manner.  "  You  have  all 
that  the  world  can  give.  Great  wealth " 

"How  do   I  win  it? "said  Carmoody  to 
213 


DEACON  LYSANDER 

her.  "By  work.  In  six  weeks  before  I've 
not  had  so  much  of  a  holiday  as  I've  taken 
here  to-day.  Constant  scheming,  guarding, 
application  of  all  a  man's  powers.  Incessant 
work — and  for  what  ?  To  be  cheated  when 
ever  I  let  any  interest  out  of  my  immediate 
oversight 

He  stopped  again,  for  we  were  thinking  of 
his  girl  and  how  nearly  she  had  been  be 
trayed.  Then  his  voice  suddenly  took  on  an 
inflexibility  I  had  not  known  was  in  him. 

"You  are  fools  if  you  refuse,"  he  said. 
He  took  out  his  pocketbook  and  counted  out 
ten  new  ten-dollar  notes.  "  Do  me  the  favor 
to  accept  these,"  said  he,  "if  you  decide  to 
take  up  with  this  gentleman's  offer.  His  ex 
ample  has  infected  me.  I  do  not  know  why 
I  should  care,  or  he  should  care,  where  you  go; 
214 


THE  CATASTROPHE 

— that's  the  world.  But  he  seems  not  to  be 
of  the  world;  he  is  infecting  me  with  fool 
ish  thoughts.  The  spell  of  his  hypnotism 
may  not  last  long.  Take  this  filthy  lucre 
while  it  is  within  your  grasp.  Go  and  pack 
your  trunks.  Clear  out  with  his  good  wife 
and  him  to-morrow.  The  Lord  knows 
where  else  you  can  go.  As  for  me,  I  swear 
to  you,  I'd  desire  no  better  fate.  True 
friendship, — field  and  sky,  innocence  and 
honest  employment; — my  God!  what  do  you 
want?" 

They  took  in  the  ten-dollar  notes  and 
thanked  him  feebly  and  said  they  would  be 
ready  in  the  morning. 

Carmoody  found  his  daughter.  The  way  he 
held  her  when  she  threw  her  arms  'round  his 
neck,  I  knew  there  was  no  fear  but  that  he 
215 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

would  be  good  to  her.  The  two  western 
girls  were  getting  ready  joyously  for  their  de 
parture. 

Carmoody  found  out  Angelique  too,  and 
made  further  interested  inquiries  about  the 
substitution  of  soap  for  wine  in  the  jelly — he 
seemed  to  have  a  good  deal  of  native  humor 
about  him.  He  told  her  it  was  hardly  fair,— 
since  he  was  a  wine  merchant, — for  her  to 
introduce  another  commodity  for  the  flavor 
ing  of  jellies,  equally  good.  But  he  paid 
up  her  wages  free-handedly,  and  she  was 
happy. 

Cleopatra  hugged  my  wife  as  if  she  had 
been  her  own  mother,  when  they  said  good 
bye  to  us  on  the  evening  of  that  same  day. 
Cleopatra  seemed  to  have  forgotten  all  about 
the  Count — she  was  that  light  and  simple, 


THE  CATASTROPHE 

and  gay  in  the  thought  of  her  deliverance 
from  the  Doves.  She  must  by  nature  have 
taken  after  her  mother,  I  think,  for  Car- 
moody's  eyes  flashed  strange  deep  thoughts 
at  me  as  he  held  out  his  hand  in  farewell. 

"1  cannot  pay  you  for  the  honor  and  the 
service  you  have  done  me,"  he  said.  "  I  can 
not  say  a  mere  'Thank  you.'  I  mean  to  see 
you  again  some  time.  Sir,"  he  said — and 
then  he  said  a  strange  excited  thing,  and  his 
lip  trembled, — "  I  believe  God  has  not  forgot 
ten  me,  since  He  led  me,  in  so  strange  a  way, 
to  meet  you." 


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IT  was  a  morning,  fair  of  earth  and  sky, 
when  we  set  out  from  the  city  where  we  had 
come  to  find  mirth  and  gaiety. 

Well,  there  was  as  much  of  those  things 
there  as  anywhere,  but,  for  God's  good  rea 
son,  there's  another  shape  that  seems  to  loom 
more  largely  on  the  earth — the  great  en- 
shadowing  shape  of  pain  and  sorrow.  The 
poor  and  anxious  faces  seemed  far  more  in 
number,  as  we  looked,  than  the  merry;  some 
infirmity,  some  stamp  of  trouble,  we  saw 
wherever  our  eyes  turned;  the  hearse  with 
its  pall  was  there,  and  the  mourners  went 
about  the  streets. 

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The  Doves  were  not  with  us.  All  trace  of 
them  had  vanished  early  that  morning.  They 
had  fled  with  the  cash  Carmoody  put  in  their 
hand,  to  some  strange  city ;  there,  well  dressed 
and  plausible,  to  renew  their  house-hiring 
and  boarding  school  tricks,  to  run  up  bills 
they  had  no  thought  of  paying;  to  come 
again  to  dissolution  and  disaster,  as  I  had 
learned  on  good  authority  they  had  done 
many  times  even  before  I  knew  them. 

But  they  are  growing  old  and  weary, — and 
they  will  come  to  us,  some  day.  I  say,  I 
have  a  conviction  that  they  will  come,  some 
day.  We  keep  the  little  house  ready.  I 
wish  that  I  had  told  them  they  would  be 
always  welcome;  but  I  reckon,  when  the 
time  comes,  they  will  feel  sure  of  that.  Can- 
dace  says  that  she  believes  they  will  come, 
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DEACON  LYSANDER 

too,  and  I  always  rely  on  Candace's  intui 
tions. 

Carmoody  came,  the  second  summer  after 
our  trip.  He  appeared  at  the  door,  one  even 
ing,  with  his  calm  face  and  beautiful  eyes; 
it  was  all  as  natural  as  though  we'd  been  ex 
pecting  him — he  had  that  way. 

He  told  us  that  Cleopatra  was  married  to  a 
poor  clerk  of  his,  a  "steady  reliable  climbing 
fellow,"  whom  he  trusted,  he  said,  more  than 
any  one  on  earth  except  Candace  and  me! 
When  he  said  that — and  he  certainly  had  a 
way  with  him — Candace  blushed  up  so 
pleased  she  forgot  she  had  not  had  warning 
enough  of  his  coming  to  get  on  her  best  silk 
dress  and  cap. 

He  stayed  a  week  with  us.  He  seemed  not 
to  care  to  talk  much,  but  his  face  was  full  of 
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pleasant  talk  even  when  he  was  still.  He 
churned,  and  helped  me  reap — nothing  would 
stay  him ;  and  one  day  we  rigged  up  some 
fish  poles  and  went  fishing  together. 

He  spent  the  longest  time,  Sunday  morning, 
brushing  his  clothes, — though  there  never  ap 
peared  to  be  a  speck  on  him  at  any  time, — 
and  polished  his  boots  till  they  shone,  to  go 
to  meeting  with  Candace  and  me.  He 
listened  to  our  old  minister  as  if  he'd  been  a 
prophet.  When  the  contribution  box  came 
'round — I  was  one  of  the  deacons  to  pass  the 
box,  and  our  pew  came  in  on  my  circuit — he 
put  ii.  a  bill  all  crumpled  up  into  a  wad  so  it 
did  not  make  any  show. 

When  that  bill  was  unrolled  it  proved  to  be 
two  bills!  and  each  one  was  for  a  hundred 
dollars.  It  helped  us  mightily  with  our 


DEACON   LYSANDER 

church  finances;  and  I've  been  asked  by  the 
church  committee,  ever  since,  if  my  city 
friend  was  coming  to  make  me  another  visit! 

Well, — to  go  back  to  our  keys,  that  Can- 
dace  and  I  treasure  and  cannot  lose,  however 
we  fling  them  around, — the  key  to  the 
world's  sorrow,  the  key  to  the  world's 
work, — and  the  key  that  opens  the  padlock 
to  the  big  barn  door  at  sunset. 

I'm  growing  very  soft  and  fond  over  that 
padlock  key,  as  my  limbs  fail  and  my  old 
eyes  grow  dim.  It's  all  lovely  to  look 
at  the  sunset  from  a  house-window;  but 
when  you  get  seated  on  some  old  rack  in  the 
west  barn-door,  there's  a  careless  sense  about 
it; — you're  not  so  much  watching  as  you're 
almost  there!  It's  grandest  in  October.  I 
catch  my  breath  sometimes; — the  old  sense 

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of  revelry  comes  back,  life  with  its  zest, 
young  and  keen.  The  whole  past  story, 
however  sad  it  was,  seems  glad,  sorrow 
seems  glad,  and  the  little  step  from  this  to 
That  Yonder  seems  joyful  with  the  rest. 


323 


The  Greenwich  Press, 
New  York,  U.  S.  A. 


Date  Due 


PRINTED    IN    U.S.A. 


CAT.   NO.   24    161 


A     000  548  838     2 


